TRANSPORT

A14

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to National Infrastructure Plan 2013, published on 4 December 2013, whether, following the decision to cancel the tolling proposals for the A14, the Government will now revert to the upgrade plans which were in place before May 2010.

Robert Goodwill: The Highways Agency has recently consulted with the public on proposals for the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement, specifically a route between Ellington and Milton. This is not the same scheme that was proposed prior to May 2010 although it does have a number of similarities. The agency is still considering the many representations received, together with the implications of the decision not to toll, and expects to announce a preferred route early in 2014.

A14: East of England

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent on planning, consultation and other preparation for the planned upgrade of the 25 mile section of the A14 in East Anglia by (a) the Government and (b) local authorities in each year since 2010.

Robert Goodwill: Since 2010 the Government has spent £4.17 million on the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme. £885,000 of this was spent in 2012-13 and the remaining £3.28 million has been spent so far in 2013-14. The Department does not hold information centrally on spend by local authorities.

Amphibious Vehicles: Accidents

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch's report on the commercial operation of DUKW vehicles as tourist vehicles.

Stephen Hammond: The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has not yet produced its final report into the fire on the Cleopatra DUKW boat on 29 September. The MAIB issued a Safety Bulletin on 28 October 2013 and recommended that these vessels should not be permitted to operate until satisfactory levels of safety can be assured under all feasible operating conditions. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is the appropriate regulator and will not allow the vessels to operate on the water until they are satisfied with safety arrangements.

Driving Tests

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received on the effectiveness of the Esterman and Goldmann tests of a driver's visual ability.

Robert Goodwill: In the past three years the Department has a record of receiving five representations from hon. Members on behalf of their constituents about the effectiveness of the Esterman and Goldmann methods used to test a driver's eyesight.

Highways Agency

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the proposed Government-owned company replacing the Highways Agency will be able to borrow at (a) government or (b) private industry rates.

Robert Goodwill: The new company will be funded directly from public funds and therefore it is not expected that external borrowing is going to be a requirement for financing activities. However the Department is still working on the detailed financial arrangements for the company including whether any borrowing might be required and if so on what basis.

Highways Agency

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the proposed Government-owned company replacing the Highways Agency will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Robert Goodwill: We are currently in the middle on a consultation process which will close on 20 December.
	We expect the Freedom of Information Act will continue to apply to Highways Agency in its new form.

Large Goods Vehicles

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his Department will publish its review of sidebar exemptions for HGVs.

Robert Goodwill: The Department will publish its review of exemptions for sideguards fitted to HGVs in early 2014. Work is ongoing to develop an impact assessment to understand fully the cost and benefits of any changes to the current exemptions.

Railways: Franchises

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the review of the Rail Franchise Direct Awards Process Guide to be completed; and when the Guide will be published.

Stephen Hammond: A draft version of the Direct Award Process Guide was published in error. We have now reviewed the final version of the Direct Award Process Guide and it will be published shortly.

Railways: Franchises

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his Department plans to publish the Rail Franchising Overview.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport remains committed to transparency in the franchising process. To that end we have published a number of documents since the new franchising schedule was announced by the Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin), in March 2013. There have, however, been a number of significant changes in the rail industry over the course of the year and in order to appropriately capture these changes we have chosen to defer the publication of the Rail Franchising Overview.

Railways: Wales

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with train operating companies about increasing services on the North Wales Coast Main Line.

Stephen Hammond: There are two current operators on this route: Virgin Trains and Arriva Trains Wales. There have been no recent discussions with Virgin Trains about increasing services on the North Wales Coast Main Line. The Arriva Trains Wales franchise is the responsibility of Welsh Government under the Welsh rail devolution arrangements and any such discussions regarding increasing the services on the North Wales Coast Main Line would be a matter for them.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the budget for local road maintenance in real terms with predicted inflation in each year to 2020-21.

Robert Goodwill: The following table shows capital highways maintenance block funding:
	
		
			 £ million 
			 Financial year Funding announced Real terms funding at 2013-14 prices (nearest £1 million)3 
			 2013-141 4890 890 
			 2014-151 4782 767 
			 2015-161 976 941 
			 2016-171 976 925 
			 2017-181 976 910 
			 2018-192 976 894 
			 2019-202 976 880 
			 2020-212 976 865 
			 1 Real terms figures from 2013-14 to 2017-18 calculated using GDP deflators taken from GDP deflators at market prices, and money GDP: September 2013, HM Treasury: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp-march-2013 Deflators are derived from Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) forecasts for GDP deflator increases as of the March 2013 Budget. 2 Real terms figures from 2018-19 to 2020-21 assume constant annual GDP deflation of 1.7%, equal to the HM Treasury forecast for 2016-17 and 2017-18. 3 Real terms figures presented at 2013-14 prices and rounded to the nearest £1 million. 4 2013-14 and 2014-15 figures include an additional £140 million (2013-14) and £75 million (2014-15) funding announced in the 2012 autumn statement. Source: Department for Transport 
		
	
	The Department is also funding highways maintenance projects in Portsmouth, Birmingham, Sheffield, Isle of Wight and the London borough of Hounslow through the private finance initiative.
	The funding for road repairs in London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are matters for the respective Administrations.
	Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding, allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant for maintaining their local highways.
	Neither revenue nor capital highways maintenance block funding is ring-fenced and it is for local highway authorities to decide upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services that they provide.

Shipping: Conditions of Employment

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate his Department has made of the number of vessels which failed International Transport Workers Federation inspections but held valid Maritime Labour Control certificates in each of the last three years.

Stephen Hammond: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has made no estimate of this number as it does not keep, or have access to, records of inspections by the International Transport Workers Federation.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Abandoned Vehicles

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many statutory recovery contracts will be issued by police this year.

Damian Green: The Home Office does not collect this information.

Asylum: Finance

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what financial provisions are available to successful applicants for support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; what underlying principles her Department relies upon to determine the exact level of financial support offered under that section; and what calculations her Department used to determine that this level of financial support is adequate to cover medical, food and transport costs of such applicants.

Mark Harper: Successful applicants are provided with accommodation and an "Azure Card" that can be used to buy food and other essential items to the value of £35.39 per week. They are also eligible to receive free health care and can apply for extra assistance to cover the costs of travel to essential appointments.
	The level of assistance is customarily reviewed annually. When last considering whether to change the level of financial support provided the Government took into account a range of comparators, such as the level of income support, the Office for National Statistics and the Department for Work and Pensions survey data on average household spending and the rates paid in other EU member states. The level of support agreed also reflects the temporary nature of the support provided and the fact that accommodation is provided fully furnished with no utility costs to pay.

Asylum: Finance

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to broaden the range of (a) supermarkets and (b) local retail shops that accept Azure payment cards.

Mark Harper: The Azure Card is already accepted by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrison's, the Co-operative, Boots, Peacocks, The British Red Cross, the Salvation Army and a few small independent retailers.
	There are ongoing discussions with other retail outlets who may be interested in joining the scheme.

Counter-terrorism

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the guidance his Department has provided to local authorities on the spending of funds allocated under the Prevent agenda.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 9 December 2013
	The Prevent strategy provides guidance on how local authorities should spend funds allocated under the Prevent agenda. Details can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-strategy-2011
	The Home Office currently funds dedicated Prevent coordinators in local priority areas to local delivery. It also funds project work for activities that address specific local risks, with these funds allocated under a bidding process.

Deportation: Appeals

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unsuccessful appeals by foreign nationals deported under section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007 there were using (a) the European Convention on Human Rights and (b) the 1951 Refugee Convention in each year since the implementation of that Act.

Mark Harper: holding answer 9 December 2013
	We are only able to report on data that is captured in certain mandatory fields on the Home Office's Case Information Database (CID). Additional data relating to the specific details of appeals lodged against the European Convention on Human Rights and Refugee are only recorded in the case notes sections within the database or held solely on the case file. In order to provide the requested information on the reasons given for lodging an appeal, we would need to undertake a manual case by case search of records. We have estimated that to gather and collate the information you have requested would exceed the cost threshold.

Deportation: Appeals

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what articles of the European Convention on Human Rights were used as part of the appeal by foreign nationals deported under section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007 who unsuccessfully appealed against their deportation in each year since the implementation of that Act.

Mark Harper: holding answer 9 December 2013
	We are only able to report on data that is captured in certain mandatory fields on the Home Office's Case Information Database (CID). Additional data relating to the specific details of appeals lodged against the European Convention on Human Rights and Refugee are only recorded in the case notes sections within the database or held solely on the case file. In order to provide the requested information on the reasons given for lodging an appeal, we would need to undertake a manual case by case search of records. We have estimated that to gather and collate the information you have requested would exceed the cost threshold.

Independent Police Complaints Commission

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  whether the Independent Police Complaints Commission has jurisdiction over port police forces, Mersey Tunnels Police and Cambridge University Constabulary;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2013, Official Report, column 476W, on Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), whether the IPCC will deal with all serious and sensitive cases involving the (a) British Transport Police, (b) Ministry of Defence Police and (c) Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

Damian Green: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has agreements in place with the Port of Bristol police, Port of Liverpool police, Port of Tees and Hartlepool police and Port of Tilbury police. It has no equivalent agreements with the Mersey Tunnels police or the Cambridge university constabulary.
	The British Transport police, Ministry of Defence police and Civil Nuclear constabulary refer cases to the IPCC, which then decides what form of investigation, if any, to carry out. The Government is considering the approach to non-Home Office forces as part of the programme to expand the IPCC.

Overtime

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours of overtime have been paid to immigration caseworkers in (a) her Department and (b) her Department's executive agencies in the last five years for which records are available.

Mark Harper: holding answer 18 November 2013
	Home Office employees claim overtime for hours worked using individual weekly electronic time cards which are then automatically processed on our payroll system. The information could therefore only be obtained by undertaking a weekly extract of these time cards for each of the last five years from both the Home Office payroll databases (main Department and Her Majesty's Passport Office) which would incur a disproportionate cost to the Home Office.
	The Home Office reports some overtime information each month in its Workforce Management Information (WFMI) monthly return published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/workforce-management-information-2013
	This is reported as a monetary value in line with all other Government reporting data.

Police: West Yorkshire

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the former West Yorkshire police authority sought (a) legal advice and (b) approval from her Department before making a payment to the former Chief Constable Norman Bettison in addition to his salary.

Damian Green: There were no such requests made to the Home Office.
	The procurement of legal advice would be a matter for the local policing body, at that time the West Yorkshire police authority.
	Chief officers' pay and allowances are set nationally, with only limited discretion for payments outside those rules.
	There is now a legal requirement for senior officers' pay to be published under transparency rules and elected police and crime commissioners will need to justify any payment made over and above these rules.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Parliamentary Questions

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, how many parliamentary questions were tabled in the five days prior to the House rising for Christmas, Easter and Summer recess in the (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2012-13 parliamentary sessions.

John Thurso: Session 2009-10 ran from 18 November 2009 to 12 April 2010. There were no Easter or summer recesses in that Session. Session 2012-13 ran from 9 May 2012 to 25 April 2013. The figures given represent written questions tabled that day.
	
		
			 Christmas 2009-10 
			  Number 
			 10 December 2009 427 
			 11 December 2009 47 
			 14 December 2009 363 
			 15 December 2009 711 
			 16 December 2009 439 
		
	
	
		
			 Summer 2012-13 
			  Number 
			 11 July 2012 331 
			 12 July 2012 325 
			 13 July 2012 45 
			 16 July 2012 222 
			 17 July 2012 255 
		
	
	
		
			 Christmas 2012-13 
			  Number 
			 13 December 2012 264 
			 17 December 2012 238 
			 18 December 2012 237 
			 19 December 2012 461 
			 20 December 2012 279 
		
	
	
		
			 Easter 2012-13 
			  Number 
			 20 March 2013 240 
			 21 March 2013 280 
			 22 March 2013 167 
			 25 March 2013 214 
			 26 March 2013 354 
		
	
	Easter and summer 2009 fell in Session 2008-09. The equivalent figures for the five days preceding those recesses are as follows:
	
		
			 Easter 2008-09 
			  Number 
			 27 March 2009 127 
			 30 March 2009 302 
			 31 March 2009 291 
			 1 April 2009 355 
			 2 April 2009 435 
		
	
	
		
			 Summer 2008-09 
			  Number 
			 14 July 2009 460 
			 15 July 2009 589 
			 16 July 2009 94 
			 20 July 2009 534 
			 21 July 2009 833

Pay

Frank Field: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2013, Official Report, column 376W, on pay, if he will set out each step on the path to ensuring that supply companies to the House are paying the London living wage.

John Thurso: We began an exercise in November to contact all contractors, and their subcontractors, which provide services to establish if they pay the London living wage (LLW) to workers assigned to our contracts. So far we have approached 757 service providers. We have identified six contractors where we are not yet satisfied that all staff are paid, the LLW. We are seeking assurances that this will be rectified by 7 April (the deadline agreed with the London Living Wage Foundation). We are working with the House of Lords because the majority of our contracts for services are bicameral.

Portcullis House: Mobile Phones

Alison Seabeck: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps are being taken to ensure there is access to a constant mobile telephone signal for users working in offices in Portcullis House.

John Thurso: Provision of mobile phone signals into Portcullis House has been a long-running problem, made difficult because of the design of the building. In 2009 PICT worked with T-Mobile to install equipment to provide a mobile signal inside the building. This was designed to allow use by other mobile operators and T-Mobile and Orange users adopted this solution. In 2011 Vodaphone's service was added.
	PICT is drafting a contract with O2 for use of the same equipment and an O2 signal should also be available in spring 2014. Three has also expressed an interest in hosting its service in the same way.

PRIME MINISTER

Iraq Committee of Inquiry

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Prime Minister what discussions he has had with (a) Sir John Chilcott and (b) the US administration on evidence to be made publicly available to the Chilcott Inquiry; and when he expects to receive the final report of that inquiry.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Mr Amess) on 22 November 2013, Official Report, 1038W.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Charities: Non-domestic Rates

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the costs and benefits of business rate relief for charities.

Brandon Lewis: In 2013-14, local authority estimates suggest charities will receive £1.3 billion in mandatory business rate relief and a further £43 million in discretionary business rate relief.
	It is a long-standing feature of the business rate system that charities receive rate relief, given the public benefit they deliver to society from their good works.

Community Assets

Neil Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Community Right to Bid

Stephen Williams: The Department has not made any formal assessment as yet of the overall effectiveness of the Community Right to Bid. We do know that over 700 Assets of Community Value have been listed under the Right and we have already seen a number of communities successfully using the Right to help them to purchase assets that matter to them.

Council Tax: Greater London

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the outstanding amounts of uncollected council tax are for each London borough for (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 4 December 2013
	The cumulative level of council tax arrears in each London borough (at the end of March in each year) is as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Barking and Dagenham 12,744,000 14,973,000 16,019,000 15,778,000 
			 Barnet 18,335,000 22,356,000 25,129,000 28,771,000 
			 Bexley 16,445,000 17,523,000 18,208,000 19,277,000 
			 Brent 36,599,000 37,953,000 23,801,000 25,357,000 
			 Bromley 15,080,000 14,642,000 13,683,000 13,939,000 
			 Camden 16,187,000 15,550,000 13,151,000 13,784,000 
			 City of London 154,000 154,000 137,000 145,000 
			 Croydon 44,196,000 42,215,000 43,563,000 39,990,000 
			 Ealing 19,773,000 19,660,000 16,955,000 15,174,000 
			 Enfield 26,234,000 29,402,000 33,449,000 32,165,000 
			 Greenwich 18,263,000 18,872,000 19,154,000 20,422,000 
			 Hackney 42,181,000 38,545,000 39,653,000 41,834,000 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 12,396,000 13,328,000 12,963,000 11,645,000 
			 Haringey 29,699,000 29,985,000 30,225,000 32,578,000 
			 Harrow 8,614,000 7,247,000 7,292,000 6,873,000 
			 Havering 16,680,000 17,453,000 19,017,000 18,852,000 
			 Hillingdon 12,809,000 12,512,000 13,401,000 14,043,000 
			 Hounslow 35,547,000 35,545,000 31,497,000 29,748,000 
			 Islington 24,207,000 24,289,000 27,788,000 28,145,000 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 6,912,000 7,091,000 7,824,000 8,562,000 
			 Kingston upon Thames 5,516,000 5,144,000 4,750,000 4,493,000 
			 Lambeth 51,244,000 48,016,000 41,115,000 38,008,000 
			 Lewisham 32,474,000 35,129,000 33,037,000 31,881,000 
			 Merton 4,928,000 4,194,000 4,547,000 4,486,000 
			 Newham 21,260,000 25,412,000 28,758,000 27,778,000 
			 Redbridge 19,277,000 21,529,000 22,391,000 21,336,000 
			 Richmond upon Thames 8,763,000 9,064,000 10,073,000 10,823,000 
			 Southwark 33,914,000 35,755,000 27,015,000 27,980,000 
			 Sutton 4,889,000 5,087,000 5,451,000 6,247,000 
			 Tower Hamlets 15,153,000 16,192,000 16,458,000 17,378,000 
			 Waltham Forest 21,621,000, 17,363,000 16,005,000 14,795,000 
			 Wandsworth 9,433,000 7,794,000 7,282,000 7,566,000 
			 Westminster 11,105,000 10,651,000 10,737,000 12,228,000 
			      
			 Total: London 652,632,000 660,625,000 640,528,000 642,081,000 
		
	
	The figures are calculated by adding the amount of council tax that was uncollected within the year to the council tax arrears brought forward, less any receipts received in respect of previous years' arrears, less any council tax written off as uncollectable.
	In our best practice document, "50 ways to save", we listed improving council tax collection rates and reducing arrears as a key way of making sensible savings to help keep overall council tax bills down and protect frontline services. Every penny of council tax that is not collected means a higher council tax for the law-abiding citizen who does pay on time.
	It is important that councils are sympathetic to those in genuine hardship, are proportionate in enforcement and do not overuse bailiffs. However, these figures show that there is a significant source of income for councils, which councils in London could use to support frontline service or cut council tax bills.

Disabled Staff

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of employees in his Department have a physical or learning disability, by each Civil Service pay grade.

Brandon Lewis: At 31 October 2013 the proportion of employees in the Department for Communities and Local Government with a disability, by each civil service pay grade is:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			 Grade Disabled Non-disabled Undisclosed Unknown Declaration rate 
			 Senior Civil Service (including Permanent Secretary) 3.8 82.3 0.0 13.9 86.1 
			 PB7 2.0 91.2 0.0 6.9 93.1 
			 PB6 3.6 83.6 3.1 9.7 87.2 
			 PB5 3.3 82.9 6.3 7.6 86.2 
			 PB4 5.8 81.0 3.4 9.8 86.8 
			 PB3 8.7 78.4 3.7 9.1 87.1 
			 PB2 9.0 76.4 4.5 10.1 85.4 
			 Total 5.1 82.0 3.6 9.3 87.1 
		
	
	The Department does not hold data on disability by type, asking staff only to disclose whether they regard themselves as being disabled or not.

Families: Disadvantaged

Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for how many outcomes under the Troubled Families programme the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham has claimed payment since 1 April 2012.

Kris Hopkins: Upper tier local authorities provide my Department with progress information in regard to their local troubled families programmes at quarterly intervals. The latest information submitted by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham shows that, as at 31 October 2013, it had claimed for 121 outcomes under the terms of the Troubled Families Programme Financial Framework.
	My Department publishes programme data on a quarterly basis, including the number of outcomes claimed by each upper tier authority. The information can be found on my Department's web pages here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/troubled-families-progress-information-at-september-2013-and-families-turned-around-at-october-2013

Families: Disadvantaged

Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham have been attached to the Troubled Families programme since 1 April 2012.

Kris Hopkins: Upper tier local authorities provide my Department with progress information in regard to their local troubled families programmes at quarterly intervals. The latest information submitted by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham shows that, as at 30 September 2013, it had started working with 412 families.
	My Department publishes programme data on a quarterly basis, including the number of families worked with by each upper tier authority. The information can be found on my Department's web pages here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/troubled-families-progress-information-at-september-2013-and-families-turned-around-at-october-2013

Families: Disadvantaged

Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham his Department has identified as meeting the criteria for the Troubled Families programme since 1 April 2012.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 9 December 2013
	Upper tier local authorities provide my Department with progress information in regard to their local troubled families programmes at quarterly intervals. The latest information submitted by the London borough of Barking and Dagenham shows that, as at 30 September 2013, it had identified 538 of the 645 families it has agreed to work with by the end of the current Parliament.
	My Department publishes programme data on a quarterly basis, including the number of families identified by each upper tier authority. The information can be found on my Department's web pages here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/troubled-families-progress-information-at-september-2013-and-families-turned-around-at-october-2013

Families: Disadvantaged

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families are expected to be turned around under the Troubled Families programme in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

Kris Hopkins: We do not set annual targets for the number of families to be turned around under the Troubled Families programme. The Prime Minister's overall ambition is to turn around the lives of the 120,000 most troubled families in England by the end of this Parliament.
	A breakdown of the number of troubled families each upper tier local authority has agreed to turn around overall is available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/troubled-families-progress-information-at-september-2013-and-families-turned-around-at-october-2013

Families: Disadvantaged

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families have been turned around under the Troubled Families programme to date.

Kris Hopkins: Information about the number of families that have been turned around under the Troubled Families programme to date is published each quarter and can be found at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-troubled-families-programme-financial-framework

Fire Services: Pensions

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent progress he has made in negotiations on firefighters' pensions.

Brandon Lewis: In May 2012, the Department published the Proposed Final Agreement setting out reforms to the Firefighters' Pension Schemes to apply from 2015. In June 2013, I wrote to the firefighter trade unions offering to vary the scheme design to address issues that they had raised. This was rejected by the Fire Brigades Union which commenced a ballot for industrial action consisting of a strike.
	In November 2013 I published a consultation on principles to promote fitness and manage capability in the fire service. The consultation proposed that the principles be included in the Fire and Rescue National Framework to give them statutory force, and that an independent review of the principles be undertaken to assess whether they were being properly implemented. This consultation closed on 6 December 2013.
	I have regularly met with the leadership of the Fire Brigades Union, the Retained Firefighters' Union and the Fire Officers' Association both prior to, and during, the Fire Brigades Unions industrial action. I have always remained available to meet with the unions and, as part of the consultation, I recently hosted a roundtable meeting to discuss issues that have been raised on fitness and capability.

Fracking

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department gives to local mineral planning authorities on how to balance Government policy on shale gas drilling applications against local opinion in respect of shale gas.

Nicholas Boles: The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that up to date local plans are the key to delivering sustainable development that reflects the vision and aspirations of local communities. Through the National Planning Policy Framework we expect county and unitary councils to use their local plans to plan for minerals of national and local importance in their area. This includes onshore oil and gas.
	Decisions on planning applications are made in accordance with the statutory development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. These considerations can include the planning issues raised by local people. Local planning authorities are required to undertake a formal period of public consultation, prior to deciding a planning application, as prescribed in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure)(England) Order 2010.
	Shale gas has the potential to provide the UK with greater energy security, growth and jobs. The planning system is accompanied by separate environmental and health and safety provisions (overseen by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, by the Environment Agency and by the Health and Safety Executive) ensuring that a robust, comprehensive and safe regulatory regime is in place.

Local Government: Merseyside

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues and the Minister of State for Employment on a City Region Cabinet on Merseyside.

Brandon Lewis: Ministers within the Department for Communities and Local Government regularly meet colleagues from other Departments to discuss a range of matters. The Government has decided to undertake a statutory consultation, launched on 28 November 2013, on the proposal to establish a combined authority for Greater Merseyside. The consultation ends on 22 January 2014.

Michael Lyons

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what total amount in salary, fees and expenses was paid by his Department to Sir Michael Lyons for his work on the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government;
	(2)  how much his Department paid Sir Michael Lyons in (a) salary, (b) fees and (c) related expenses for his work on the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government in 2007.

Brandon Lewis: Sir Michael Lyons carried out his inquiry into local government between 2004 and 2007. He delivered his report
	“Place-shaping: a shared ambition for the future of local government"
	in March 2007. He was paid total fees of £309,500, and expenses of £25,314.96. In addition, a total of £58,592.60 was paid in VAT on those sums.
	The total gross cost paid by the last Administration was thus almost £400,000.

Parking: Fees and Charges

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of changes in local authority car parking charges in (a) each local authority, (b) each English region and (c) England since 2009.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 2 December 2013
	We do not hold figures on individual parking charges. However, the following table shows the change in local authority gross expenditure, income and net current expenditure since 2009, broken down by (a) on-street and (b) off-street parking.
	The table shows how income and ‘profit’ (negative net current expenditure) from off-street parking has fallen over period, but risen from on-street parking. Councils have delivered operational savings from lower costs, but it would appear that these have not been passed onto consumers.
	
		
			 £ 
			  Total expenditure Total income Net current expenditure 
			 2009-10    
			 On-street parking 505,898,000 708,647,000 -202,749,000 
			 Off-street parking 355,975,000 642,658,000 -286,683,000 
			 2010-11    
			 On-street parking 457,495,000 696,463,000 -238,968,000 
			 Off-street parking 353,967,000 626,625,000 -272,658,000 
			 2011-12    
			 On-street parking 457,485,000 753,592,000 -296,108,000 
			 Off-street parking 349,269,000 618,531,000 -269,262,000 
			 2012-13    
			 On-street parking 453,597,000 770,389,000 -316,792,000 
			 Off-street parking 346,879,000 618,797,000 -271,916,000 
		
	
	As outlined in the written ministerial statement of 18 September 2012, Official Report, columns 31-33WS, my Department no longer publishes statistics by the former Government office regions. I have not undertaken a detailed analysis of individual local authorities, but the underlying data is available on department's website from revenue outturn (R02) returns.
	To place this table in context, from 1997-98 to 2010-11, local authority total income in England from parking rose from £608 million to £1.3 billion; net profits from parking rose from £223 million to £512 million in the same period. However, the law is extremely clear that on-street parking may not. be used as a source of general revenue.
	I would observe under the last Administration, councils were pressured by central Government to increase parking charges, both in ministerial speeches and in the Whitehall guidance issued by the Department and its predecessors.
	Indeed, when the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr Denham) was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and was asked to increase local government's revenue raising powers, he noted that it was already Government policy to encourage councils to “creatively” and “extensively” make use of parking charges (CLG, Government response to the CLG “Select Committee report into the balance of power: central and local government”, Cm 7712, September 2009).
	By contrast, this Government has taken a series of steps to undo such measures, but there is more to do. Hence we have published detailed proposals on reforming parking enforcement, to rein back in over-zealous practices and to stand up for hard-working people and support local shops. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Pay Television

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether offices of (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies have access to Sky Sports or an equivalent premium sports television service; and what the cost to the public purse is in each case.

Brandon Lewis: My Department does not subscribe to any premium satellite television channels. By contrast, the Department under the last Administration spent £5,594 on premium Sky channels, which included Sky Sports for the (now closed) Darts Bar.
	With regard to the executive agencies, the Planning Inspectorate has never had access to Sky Sports or an equivalent sports package and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre has access to Sky Sports but this is a service that it sells on from time to time to clients using the centre for events at no cost to the public purse.

Planning Permission

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) housing planning decisions and (b) other planning decisions his Department has overturned since May 2010.

Nicholas Boles: holding answer 21 October 2013
	Planning is a quasi-judicial process; it is a long-standing feature of the planning system that there is a right of appeal, just as there are with other local quasi-judicial decisions such as on licensing applications, gambling applications or parking fines.
	The following table shows the number of planning decisions, appeals received and appeals allowed in England since 2009-10.
	
		
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Planning decisions1 417,600 439,900 435,300 419,200 
			 Planning appeals received 16,854 16,479 15,815 15,397 
			 Planning appeals allowed 5,852 5,194 5,028 4,761 
			      
			 Appeals by type     
			 Received: Housing 5,810 5,501 5,312 5,419 
			 Allowed: Housing 1,761 1,390 1,353 1,384 
		
	
	
		
			 Received: Other (including householder development)2 11,044 10,978 10,503 9,978 
			 Allowed: Other (including householder development) 4,091 3,804 3,675 3,377 
			 1 To the nearest 100 decisions. 2 Appeals for householder development or where development type has not been recorded are included in the Other category. Note: Since appeals can be lodged up to six months after the date of the original decision, appeals will not necessarily be received or decided in the same year as the original planning decision. 
		
	
	The vast majority of appeals are determined by the Planning Inspectorate. In the period 2010-11 to 2012-13, there were only 26 'recovered' appeals for housing allowed by the Secretary of State and 36 'recovered' appeals allowed for other development. Overall, the number of appeals allowed is extremely small compared to the 1.3 million decisions over that period.
	These figures show how the number of planning appeals received and allowed has fallen in the first year of the National Planning Policy Framework, refuting the suggestion of ‘planning by appeal’.
	Moreover, I note that both the number of appeals received and allowed in 2012-13 were lower than the last year of the previous Administration (given a broadly similar number of planning decisions).

Planning Permission: Appeals

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average length of time involved in the processing and determination of planning appeals by the Planning Inspectorate was in each year since 2008.

Nicholas Boles: The information requested is given in the following table:
	
		
			 Planning appeal and householder appeals (all procedures) 
			  Average weeks to decide Volume of decisions 
			 2008-09 19.84 20,924 
			 2009-10 17.16 17,252 
			 2010-11 15.74 15,800 
			 2011-12 13.11 14,452 
			 2012-13 15.93 13,415 
		
	
	The reason for the rise in 2012-13 is two-fold:
	appeals in London were intentionally delayed to avoid clashing with the Olympics;
	some appeals were held and revisited due to the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework in March 2012, so they could be assessed on the basis of the refreshed planning policy rather than the old policy.
	The Planning Inspectorate is continually looking at ways to make the planning system work more efficiently and effectively. Following a technical review of planning appeals procedures, we have introduced a number of initiatives designed to streamline the planning appeals process to enable quicker decision making.
	More broadly, the fact that the number of planning appeals has fallen in the first year of the National Planning Policy Framework refutes the unfounded suggestion that the framework would lead to '’planning by appeal’.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Brandon Lewis: The contents of the Official Report are a matter of public record and are readily accessible to the hon. Member online and in hard copy.

Rented Housing: Students

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if his Department will make an assessment of ways to prevent properties rented to students from becoming run-down.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 27 November 2013
	The Government has no current plans to make a specific assessment of students' rented property; however it is taking forward a review into the condition of property in the private rented sector to ensure that there is a robust system in place to check that tenants' homes are safe and healthy with appropriate standards of hygiene and sanitation. The review will include and take account of the views of tenant groups including students.
	Most landlords ask a tenant to pay a deposit before moving in to the property and, providing they have appropriate evidence, can withhold a proportion at the end of the tenancy to cover any damage caused by the tenant. Many landlords also request a guarantor for the tenant's obligations—for example, if the tenant in question cannot demonstrate a prior track record of having rented previously.
	Many universities already work with local authorities to ensure a consultative approach is taken on development and standards of accommodation for students and we will encourage this to continue in the future.
	Local authorities have powers, under the Housing Act 2004, to assess the risks and hazards of any property. If a property is found to contain serious (category 1) hazards, the local authority has a duty to take the most appropriate action. This could range from trying to deal with the problems informally at first to prohibiting the use of the whole or part of the dwelling. This system provides an important safety net, ensuring that homes are safe and decent.
	For Houses of Multiple Occupation, there is a statutory duty on local authorities to licence larger higher risk dwellings of three or more storeys housing five or more unrelated persons. These properties are seen as higher risk, both because of the nature and condition of the properties, and the vulnerability of their occupants. The mandatory Houses of Multiple Occupation licensing regime addresses poor management practices and aims to secure a reduction in death and injury from fire and other health and safety hazards, and ensures adequate provision of amenities.

Secondment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many of his Department's civil servants have been seconded to (a) the private sector and (b) trades unions in each year since 2010;
	(2)  how many secondees from (a) trades unions and (b) the voluntary sector have worked in his Department since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: I have placed in the Library of the House, a table showing the secondments in and out of the Department since 2010. The vast majority of our secondees are to and from the public sector, but some secondments include private sector and voluntary sector.
	Secondments bring in external expertise across the Department's responsibilities such as for local government, housing, planning and communities, and secondments out help staff get experience of outside sectors, bringing back new knowledge and skills when they return to the Department.

Social Rented Housing

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of trends in the level of rent arrears among social housing tenants since 1 April 2013.

Kris Hopkins: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 27 November 2013, Official Report, column 340W.

Staff

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of employees in his Department is (a) white British and (b) black, Asian and from other minority ethnic groups, by each civil service pay grade.

Brandon Lewis: At 31 October 2013 the proportion of employees in the Department for Communities and Local Government by ethnicity by each civil service pay grade is:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			 Grade White Asian Black Chinese Mixed Other Undisclosed Unknown BME rate Declaration rate 
			 Senior civil service1 77.2 2.5 1.3 0.0 1.3 1.3 0.0 16.5 7.6 83.5 
			 PB7 83.3 3.9 0.0 0.0 2.9 0.0 2.0 7.8 7.6 90.2 
			 PB6 79.7 2.9 1.9 0.2 0.7 1.2 2.7 10.6 8.1 86.7 
			 PB5 70.7 3.3 6.9 0.3 2.3 2.0 5.9 8.6 17.3 85.5 
			 PB4 62.8 10.0 7.5 0.6 1.9 1.9 3.6 11.5 25.9 84.8 
			 PB3 53.5 14.5 14.5 0.4 1.2 2.9 2.5 10.4 38.6 87.1 
			 PB2 58.4 11.2 15.7 0.0 1.1 2.2 3.4 7.9 34.2 88.8 
			 Total 68.7 7.1 6.7 0.4 1.6 1.8 3.4 10.4 20.3 86.2 
			 1 Including permanent secretary

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Internet

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Attorney-General whether access to any websites or domains is blocked from computers in the Law Officers' Departments; and if he will publish a list of all such websites and domains to which access is prohibited.

Oliver Heald: All of the Law Officers' Departments have an acceptable use policy that restricts employees’ access to unsuitable websites. To implement these policies the Law Officers' Departments subscribe to commercial applications which work by directly filtering specific categories of information. Requests for websites which contain information failing into one of these categories will be routinely denied unless there is a specific business need for allowing an individual to have access to a particular website.
	Extracting a comprehensive list of all websites blocked by the Law Officers Departments is not possible as websites are usually blocked by specific category and the number of blocked websites is constantly changing.

Serious Fraud Office

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Attorney-General what plans he has to review the threshold at which the Serious Fraud Office investigates reported fraud.

Oliver Heald: The Serious Fraud Office was set up and empowered to undertake the most difficult and complex investigations and prosecutions that others cannot do. These are ‘top tier’ cases where the SFO's model of joint investigatory and prosecution teams are required, and they will include cases:
	which undermine UK commercial/financial plc in general and the City of London in particular;
	where the actual or potential sums involved are high;
	where actual or potential harm is significant;
	where there is a very significant public interest element; and
	that represent new species of fraud
	These criteria are kept under review by the Director to ensure best use is made of the SFO model.

Serious Fraud Office

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2013, Official Report, columns 428-9W, on Serious Fraud Office, how many investigations are currently benefitting from additional funding from the Treasury.

Oliver Heald: One investigation, relating to the LIBOR matter, is currently benefiting from additional funding made available by the Treasury.
	My previous answer referred to the supplementary estimates process as the route through which additions to the SFO's funding would normally be confirmed. I should clarify that additional funding was in this instance provided through the main estimates process.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Airbus SAS

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what payments have been received on the repayable loans made by the Government to Airbus in each of the last five years.

Michael Fallon: The Government has received, from its repayable interest-bearing loans with Airbus, the following repayments in each of the last five years:
	
		
			 Financial year Repayments (£ million) 
			 2008-09 93 
			 2009-10 88 
			 2010-11 94 
			 2011-12 295 
			 2012-13 162 
		
	
	The above figures are an aggregate sum of the repayments in each financial year. The Government is unable to provide a breakdown of these figures owing to the information being commercially confidential.

Airbus SAS

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much outstanding capital is owed by Airbus to the Government.

Michael Fallon: As at 31 March 2013, Airbus had repaid the Government over £2.2 billion on its repayable interest-bearing loans. The capital balance outstanding on these loans is just over £470 million.

Arms Trade: Egypt

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what contracts for exports to Egypt have been approved by the defence export licensing regime since 3 July 2013.

Michael Fallon: The Export Control Organisation (ECO) in this Department is responsible for licensing the export and brokering of controlled military and dual-use items. ECO only holds information about licences granted and refused and not about contracts.
	Information about licences granted for military and dual-use items to Egypt since 3 July 2013 will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
	The assessment of all licence applications for Egypt in this period has taken full account of the ongoing unrest. There have been a number of reviews of extant licences: as a result, on 19 July 2013 five licences were revoked; following an announcement by the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) on 21 August 2013, suspending export licensing to Egypt for equipment which might be used for internal repression, we suspended all licences permitting export to the Egyptian Army, Air Force and Internal Security Forces (48 in total) as a precautionary measure, two of which were surrendered during the suspension period; following a further review on the situation in Egypt, on 25 October 2013 we revoked three of the suspended licences and lifted the suspension on 23 others. A further four licences would have been revoked, but had expired while suspended. The balance (16) remain suspended. We continue to monitor conditions in Egypt carefully.

Chemicals: Tees Valley

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment his Department has made of the state of the chemical industry on Teesside.

Michael Fallon: The Tees Valley is a flagship cluster for the UK chemical industry, which remains a key sector underpinning our UK industrial and manufacturing base. I welcome the engagement the cluster has had with the Chemistry Group Partnership and the contribution it made to the recently published national “Strategy for Delivering Chemistry-Fuelled Growth of the UK Economy”. The strategy highlights the significant growth potential of the UK chemical industry, with a vision to increase the gross value added contribution to the UK economy by 50% by 2030. It also makes clear that to realise the vision, industry and Government need to work in partnership to address certain critical issues, namely: secure and competitive energy and feedstock; accelerated innovation; and strengthened supply chains.
	To reflect the importance we place on the Teesside area, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), and I last visited in May and September respectively. There is a high level of ongoing dialogue between BIS officials, the industry and the Local Enterprise Partnership (Tees Valley Unlimited), which features the sector in its economic development plans. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and I also attended the first meeting of the Chemical Growth Partnership Group on 22 October 2013, and listen to the views of leading industry figures including companies based on Teesside.

Collective Bargaining

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the efficacy of ILO Convention 98 in promoting free collective bargaining across industrial sectors.

Jo Swinson: Like other member states, the United Kingdom must report every two years to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on the application of the ILO Conventions to which the United Kingdom is a signatory.
	The United Kingdom submitted its last report on ILO Convention 98 (Right to organise and collective bargaining) in 2012. The Government believes that the United Kingdom's trade union and industrial action law fully complies with ILO Convention 98.
	The Government has made no assessment of the efficacy of ILO Convention 98. It is for the International Labour Organisation to assess the efficacy of its conventions.

Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made on implementation of the Cape Town Convention.

Michael Fallon: The UK is committed to ratifying the Cape Town Convention on international interests in mobile equipment and the Protocol thereto on matters specific to aircraft equipment. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) continues to work closely with industry representatives on the benefits of ratification.
	As the next step in this process a response to the call for evidence on ratification of the Cape Town Convention and Protocol as it relates to aircraft was published on 6 December 2013 and can be viewed from the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/call-for-evidence-convention-on-international-interests-in-mobile-equipment-and-protocol-thereto-on-matters-specific-to-aircraft-equipment
	The Convention and Protocol on matters specific to aircraft equipment contain a number of options for how the UK implements the treaty. The response to the call for evidence sets out BIS' intention to hold a consultation on these options.
	The Government do not intend to ratify the space protocol as it has been advised by the space industry that a system of protection for creditors already exists. The Government is supportive of the benefits of the rail protocol, however this is still being negotiated at European level and no decision will be taken whether the UK ratifies the rail protocol until these discussions have concluded.

Digital Technology

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on digital literacy.

David Willetts: Both I and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), meet with my the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Maria Miller) frequently. Officials in our Departments are in regular contact with the Department for Education and the Cabinet Office on improving digital literacy and skills.
	The Information Economy Strategy highlighted the social and economic benefits of having a digitally literate population. The Information Economy Sector Council has established an industry-led group to look at how to address gaps in digital skills. The Government Digital Service co-ordinates the Government's activity on digital inclusion and a digital inclusion strategy is due to be published in spring 2014.

English Language: Education

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department takes to monitor (a) educational and (b) employment standards at English as a Foreign Language colleges.

Matthew Hancock: The information is as follows:
	(a) In 2011 there were over 850 English Language Training centres operating in the UK. When delivering qualifications regulated by Ofqual, the assessments carried out by these centres are subject to standards set by the awarding bodies responsible for the qualifications. In addition, the Government monitors educational standards in publicly funded further education, including English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision to ensure quality and value for public and individual investment. Qualification success rates (QSR) measure completion and achievement of qualifications. The Government has set national minimum standards for QSRs that providers' performance is measured against. Ofsted is the independent inspectorate for all publicly funded education and training in England, and inspects provider for the quality of delivery and outcomes provision. Where performance is poor we will tackle robustly in line with the intervention process set out in rigour and responsiveness in skills.
	(b) Further education colleges and training providers are independent organisations, responsible for all aspects of the employment of their workforce.

EU External Trade: USA

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans his Department has to ensure that Parliament is able to consider the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Michael Fallon: The Government is committed to keeping Parliament up to date throughout the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The Minister of State for Trade and Investment, my noble Friend Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, writes to the European Scrutiny Committee Chairs of both Houses and the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU-US trade and investment to update on significant developments. We will also consider statements and other steps to keep Parliament informed of developments as the negotiations progress.
	If, as is expected, the final agreement of the TTIP contains areas of both EU and member state competence each member state will be party to the agreement and therefore ratify the agreement according to their own domestic processes. As part of the UK ratification process the agreement would need to be laid before Parliament for 21 days prior to ratification. In addition, it would need to be considered by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and the Lords Committee on Secondary Legislation, before being debated in both Houses.

Foreign Investment in UK

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in which of the last 20 years foreign direct investment into the UK has been the highest in Europe.

Michael Fallon: In the last 20 years (1992-2012), the UK was the largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment in Europe in 1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
	Source:
	UNCTAD FDI Statistics database

Higher Education: Qualifications

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the creation of a standardised system of credit transfer for those enrolled at UK universities.

David Willetts: The Government considers that the use of academic credit can be a useful tool in helping students to build their learning achievement in ways and at times that suit them.
	In 2008 guidance was published by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education to help institutions in England who wished to develop a common approach to their credit arrangements. There are also nationally agreed credit frameworks in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales so that learning and credits awarded by one institution can be recognised by different institutions in different parts of the UK.
	In England and Northern Ireland, work to promote the use of credit and share best practice continues to be undertaken by groups of institutions, called credit consortia.
	The use of credit in assessing prospective students is a matter for institutions. Institutions are autonomous bodies and their freedom to organise their academic affairs, including over admissions, is protected by law.

Higher Education: Student Numbers

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of students who graduate each year from different universities than those in which they originally enrolled at (a) undergraduate and (b) postgraduate level.

David Willetts: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students at UK higher education institutions. The nearest approximation of the information requested is published as part of the performance indicators for higher education in the UK (UKPIs) series. The UKPIs include estimates by institution of non-continuation (from year one to year two) and non-completion by entrants to full-time first degrees. These estimates include the share of entrants who are projected to transfer to another institution. More information is available at the following link:
	http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2064&ltemid=141
	Equivalent information for higher education institutions in England has been published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for postgraduate research students. More information can be found at the following link:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/data/year/2012/projectedoutcomesoffull-timestudentsstartingpostgraduateresearchdegrees/

Internet

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether access to any websites or domains is blocked from computers in his Department; and if he will publish a list of all such websites and domains to which access is prohibited.

Jo Swinson: The Department uses a commercial appliance which blocks specific website requests. The commercial supplier of the appliance provides a database of many thousands of websites, categorised according to the sort of information each provides. The Department has identified which categories to block, and requests for websites falling into that category will be denied. The database is updated every night by the supplier, a service for which the Department pays a subscription.
	The Department blocks websites that belong to the following categories:
	Adult/Mature Content
	Child Pornography
	Computer/Information Security
	Controlled Substances
	Extreme
	Hacking
	Malicious Outbound Data/Botnets
	Malicious Sources/Malnets
	Marijuana
	Phishing
	Piracy/Copyright Concerns
	Pornography
	Potentially Unwanted Software
	Proxy Avoidance
	Scam/Questionable/Illegal
	Spam
	Suspicious
	Violence/Hate/Racism
	A complete list of all the blocked websites would run to many thousands of sites. Each night, the supplier provides a new site database, changing which websites are blocked.

Mining

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the quality of corporate governance of UK public companies operating in the extractive industries.

Jo Swinson: The UK has a world class corporate governance framework which all listed companies, including extractive industries companies, must meet. Listed companies are required under the Listing Rules either to comply with the provisions of the Corporate Governance Code or explain to investors in their next annual report why they have not done so. If shareholders are not satisfied they can use their powers, including the power to appoint and remove directors, to hold the company to account.
	The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper in October 2012 (CP12/25 available at:
	http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/cp/cp12-25.pdf
	which made a number of proposals to enhance the effectiveness of the UK Listing Regime. This included consideration of some concerns which had been raised in relation to a number of UK listed extractive industries companies. The FCA published a further paper in November 2013—CP13/15 available at:
	http://fca.org.uk/your-fca/documents/consultation-papers/cp13-15
	providing feedback on the consultation exercise. This outlines a number of changes to the Listings Rules which seek to address these concerns, and consults further on several other proposals in light of the responses received. The Government is closely involved with the FCA in this work and will continue to consider, as it progresses, whether any wider changes to the corporate governance framework may be necessary.

Post Office

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the Department's letter to Denbighshire County Councillor Margaret McCarroll (ref: TOSL2013/05008), whether the cost of £1.61 referred to includes the cost of central administration of the Post Office HQ.

Jo Swinson: It costs £1.61 to generate every £1 of income at Rhyl Crown Post Office. This figure refers exclusively to the costs incurred at the Rhyl branch, and does not include any headquarters costs.
	The losses currently incurred by the Crown network are not sustainable. No business, including the Post Office, can continue with a situation where some of its high street branches cost substantially more to run than they bring in.
	Within its broader strategy for eliminating these unsustainable losses and achieving break-even for the Crown network by 2015, the Post Office has identified a group of branches where it sees no prospect of eliminating the losses at a local level under the current operating and cost structure. This group includes Rhyl, and the Post Office is seeking a suitable franchise partner within the community to provide continued access to services.

Post Offices: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions his Department has had with the Northern Ireland Executive about the future of post offices in that country.

Jo Swinson: The Department has not had any specific discussions on these issues with the Northern Ireland Executive; however, I have regular discussions with Northern Ireland colleagues on a range of matters relating to post offices there.
	Post office policy is a reserved matter for the Westminster Government, which recognises the important role that post offices play in communities across the UK. That is why this Government has committed, subject to State Aid clearance, a further £640 million for the period 2015-16 to 2017-18 to maintain a post office network of at least 11,500 branches, and to complete the network transformation modernisation programme.

Post Offices: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect on Northern Ireland of his proposals for the future of the post office network.

Jo Swinson: The Government recently announced that it will provide a further £640 million for the period 2015-16 to 2017-18, subject to State Aid clearance, to support and complete the modernisation of the post office network. There is now for the first time a £20 million investment fund specifically allocated to improve and modernise branches serving small, often remote, rural communities. This fund is of particular relevance to Northern Ireland with its high proportion of rural post offices.
	The additional funding ensures the continuation of this Government's commitment to maintain a national network of at least 11,500 branches compliant with the Government-set access criteria that see, for example, 99% of the population within three miles of a post office outlet. There will be no closure programmes under this Government.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Jo Swinson: A search by the parliamentary search tool reveals that the word 'poverty' was mentioned in answers to the following parliamentary questions tabled to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills:
	
		
			  Answer Parliamentary question 
			 Session 2010-12 17 January 2012, Official Report, column 787W 89573 
			  9 December 2010, Official Report, column 435W 28546 
			  23 November 2010, Official Report, column 273W 25247 
			    
			 Session 2012-13 11 September 2012, Official Report, column 182W 120183 
			  12 June 2012, Official Report, column 304W 108080

Public Sector Information Independent Review

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he intends to respond to the recommendations of the Shakespeare review of public sector information.

Francis Maude: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The Government published a response to the Shakespeare review on 14 June 2013:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-shakespeare-review
	and provided an update on progress in the National Information Infrastructure (NII) narrative at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254166/20131029-NII-Narrative-FINAL.pdf

Shipbuilding

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what support is available to local communities affected by changes to the location of shipbuilding jobs; and from which Department's budget such support is drawn.

Michael Fallon: This Department is supporting local communities in the Portsmouth area affected by changes to the location of shipbuilding jobs. This is in addition to the support provided by BAE Systems. Action includes supporting the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Portsmouth City in establishing two local task forces that will focus on supporting affected workers and the future of the site and naval activities respectively. Additionally, this Department has overseen the establishment of a Maritime Forum which will focus on sustainable economic and jobs growth in the Solent area and provide a supplement to the Solent LEP Strategic Economic Plan. Underpinning all this is £19 million of Regional Growth funding to boost jobs (£10 million), skills (£3 million) and small and medium-sized enterprises (£6 million) while £2.5 million of European Social funding will be available to support all those facing redundancy.
	Furthermore, the National Careers Service is available to offer free impartial careers advice to those impacted on updating skills or retraining for alternative employment as is the UK wide Talent Retention Solution (TRS) which helps match skilled workers to jobs in the advanced manufacturing and engineering sectors.

Students: Loans

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of students from (a) the UK and (b) other EU countries in (i) alternative providers, (ii) Higher Education Funding Council for England-funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and (iii) all HEIs who did not take out a tuition fee loan in the latest year for which data is available; and if he will make a statement. [R]

David Willetts: Statistics on the financial support awarded and paid to applicants for student support or their higher education institution (HEI) are published by the Student Loans Company in their annual statistical first release (SFR) “Student Support For Higher Education in England”. The latest SFR was published on 28 November 2013.
	http://www.slc.co.uk/media/694170/slcsfr052013.pdf
	Table 4b (ii) of the recent SFR provides estimates of the proportion of the tuition fee loan eligible population enrolled at public providers of higher education who were paid a tuition fee loan during the course of the academic year. The number and relative proportions that were estimated to be eligible but did not take out a tuition fee loan are shown in the table for the 2011/12 academic year, the latest year for which the loan-eligible population can be estimated.
	Estimates of the size of the loan-eligible population at alternative providers of higher education are not available, though latest figures show that during the course of the academic year 2012/13 some 25,000 UK students and 700 EU students were paid tuition fee loans at alternative providers.
	
		
			 Tuition fee loan take-up by the estimated full-time eligible population UK and EU domiciled students at Public Providers of Higher Education—Academic year 2011/12 
			  Students taking loans Students not taking loans  
			 Domicile Number (Thousand) Estimated percentage (%) Number (Thousand) Estimated percentage (%) Estimated eligible population (Thousand) 
			 UK 842.0 87.0 125.4 13.0 967.4 
			 EU 31.4 57.2 23.5 43.8 54.9 
			 Total 873.4 85.4 148.9 15.6 1,022.3 
			 Source: Student Loans Company Position as at 31 August 2012

Students: Loans

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what restrictions on future interest rates and debt collection policies were placed on the new owners of the Student Loan Book.

David Willetts: The Government announced the sale of the remaining publicly owned Mortgage Style student loans on 25 November for £160 million to Erudio Student Loans Ltd. There will be no changes to loan terms, including the calculation of interest rates which are fixed at a rate equivalent to the Retail Price Index, as a result of the sale.
	Erudio Student Loans must adhere to strict OFT guidance about treating borrowers fairly which includes particular protections for vulnerable borrowers and those in financial difficulty.

Students: Loans

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much of the total level of debt on the Student Loan Book was incurred in each year since its inception.

David Willetts: The Student Loans Company publishes statistics on student loan debt in its Statistical First Release (SFR), ‘Student Loans for Higher Education in England’. Information on the outstanding student loan balance (including loans which are not yet due for repayment) at the end of each financial year since 1990-91, when student loans were introduced, is provided in the table. The figures are derived from Table 1(i) of the SFR. Since 2000-01, the publication has been available in digital format from the Student Loans Company (SLC) website at:
	http://www.slc.co.uk/statistics/official-statistics-archive.aspx
	Copies of earlier publications are available in the Libraries of the House.
	Since 2005-06 the Student Loans Company has published the statistics separately for each of the devolved Administrations; a separate series for England is presented in the table from this date.
	
		
			 Student Loans balance outstanding at the end of the financial year, financial years1990-91 to 2012-13 
			 £ million 
			 End of financial year UK England1 
			 1990-91 72.9 2— 
			 1991-92 172.2 2— 
			 1992-93 386.4 2— 
		
	
	
		
			 1993-94 675.1 2— 
			 1994-95 1,178.0 2— 
			 1995-96 1,859.0 2— 
			 1996-97 2,691.0 2— 
			 1997-98 3,574.3 2— 
			 1998-99 4,582.3 2— 
			 1999-2000 5.946.9 2— 
			 2000-01 7,833.2 2— 
			 2001-02 10,015.2 2— 
			 2002-03 10,827.5 2— 
			 2003-04 13,364.2 2— 
			 2004-05 15,947.6 2— 
			 2005-063 18,665.8 15,328.1 
			 2006-07 21,926.8 18,125.5 
			 2007-08 26,326.3 21,953.2 
			 2008-09 30,884.9 25,972.4 
			 2009-10 35,965.8 30,496.9 
			 2010-11 41,205.9 35,194.2 
			 2011-12 46,843.1 40,279.9 
			 2012-13 53,807.3 46,598.4 
			 1 From 2005-06, the figures show, separately, English domiciled students studying in the UK and EU students studying in England. Figures for the UK include EU students studying in the UK. 2 Separate figures for England were not published prior to financial year 2005-06. 3 From 2005-06, figures were published by the Student Loans Company on behalf of each devolved Administration. From 2005-06, the UK total reflects the aggregate balance outstanding for the devolved Administrations—England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. (The totals are not exact as they are derived from the sum of the figures for each Administration rounded to one decimal place).

Students: Loans

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills who will be responsible for allocation and collection of student loans for the academic year 2014-15.

David Willetts: The Student Loan Company (SLC) will be responsible for allocating student loans in 2014-15. Student loan repayments will be collected either by HM Revenue and Customs if the borrower is employed or self-employed in the United Kingdom, or directly by the SLC if the borrower is living outside the UK.

CABINET OFFICE

Government Procurement: SMEs

Paul Flynn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent steps he has taken to reduce barriers to small and medium-sized enterprises participating in government procurement.

Nick Hurd: Last weekend, we published Small Business Great Ambition which sets out the next steps in taking forward Lord Young's recommendations to make our business more accessible to small and medium sized businesses.

Youth Services

Tim Loughton: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the change in spending on youth services by local authorities since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him in topical questions.

Transparency Agenda

John Cryer: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent steps he has taken to develop his Department's transparency agenda; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: This year the UK has led the way on transparency through our presidency of the G8 and as lead co-chair of the Open Government Partnership.
	We have just published an Open Data Charter Action Plan, our second OGP National Action Plan, and the UK National Information Infrastructure.

Cyber-Security

Ann McKechin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he is taking to improve cyber-security for consumers and small businesses.

Francis Maude: To increase confidence and measurably improve the online safety of consumers and SMEs, the Government will launch a major cyber awareness campaign in January 2014, building on the work of the National Fraud Authority and Get Safe Online. We have also produced guidance for small businesses.

Public Service Mutuals

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent discussions he has had on public service mutuals.

Francis Maude: Mutuals continue to drive real change in our public services, helping to boost public sector productivity that had flat lined between 1997 from 2010. In recent months I have personally engaged at the European level to open up restrictive procurement rules, and met with many of the front-line staff taking control of their own services.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what the ethnic breakdown was of all applicants who successfully completed the Civil Service Fast Stream application process between the 2011 and 2013 intakes;
	(2)  what the ethnic breakdown was of all applicants who applied to the Civil Service Fast Stream programme between the 2011 and 2013 intakes;
	(3)  what the gender make-up was of all applicants who successfully completed the Civil Service Fast Stream application process between the 2011 and 2013 intakes;
	(4)  what the gender make-up was of all applicants who applied to the Civil Service Fast Stream programme between the 2011 and 2013 intakes;
	(5)  how many applicants from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge successfully completed the Civil Service Fast Stream application process between the 2011 and 2013 rounds; and what proportion of all successful applicants this represents;
	(6)  how many applicants from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge applied to the Civil Service Fast Stream programme between the 2011 and 2013 rounds; and what proportion of total applicants this represents;
	(7)  what the ethnic background is of all applicants who have applied to the 2014 round of the Civil Service Fast Stream programme;
	(8)  what the gender make-up is of all applicants who applied to the 2014 round of the Civil Service Fast Stream Programme;
	(9)  how many applicants from state comprehensive schools have applied to the 2014 Civil Service Fast Stream programme; and what proportion of all applicants this figure represents;
	(10)  how many applicants from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge applied to the 2014 Civil Service Fast Stream programme; and what proportion of all applicants this represents;
	(11)  how many applicants from state comprehensive schools successfully completed the Civil Service Fast Stream application process between the 2011 and 2013 rounds; and what proportion of all successful applicants this figure represents;
	(12)  how many applicants from state comprehensive schools applied to the Civil Service Fast Stream programme between the 2011 and 2013 rounds; and what proportion of all applicants these figures represent.

Francis Maude: The data for 2011 and for 2012 is on the gov.uk website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-fast-stream-report
	The data for 2013 will be published next year. The 2014 Fast Stream programme is currently underway and data will not be available until 2015.

Construction: Billing

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what target he has set for the use of Project bank accounts.

Francis Maude: We hope to award £4 billion worth of contracts that make use of Project bank accounts by 31 March 2014.

Emergencies: Planning

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent progress he has made on National Contingency Planning.

Francis Maude: As set out in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the primary responsibility for emergency planning in the UK sits with local responders. The work at the local tier is constantly evolving and is supported by a wide range of activity at the national level, including: the production of an annual National Risk Assessment (NRA); the cross-Government National Resilience Capability Programme (NRCP); and the Emergency Planning College which develops and delivers doctrine and training to support the UK's resilience to emergencies of all types.

Government Departments: Procurement

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the usefulness of e-procurement in Government Departments.

Nick Hurd: The Government supports measures that simplify the procurement process, including the use of electronic procurement and invoicing. Under the principles of LEAN Sourcing, all central government procurements are required, to use Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) compliant e-sourcing tools to help manage the process.

Iraq Committee of Inquiry

David Amess: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many officials in his Department have duties relating to the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War; and what the nature of those duties is.

Francis Maude: As was the case under the previous Administration a small number of Cabinet Office officials have duties relating to the Iraq Inquiry including assisting with requests for declassification and supporting Government witnesses.

Ministerial Policy Advisers

Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office with reference to the commitment in the coalition agreement to put a limit on the number of special advisers, what limit has been imposed.

Francis Maude: The Ministerial Code sets out the process for the appointment of special advisers.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Nick Hurd: The contents of the Official Report is a matter of public record and is readily accessible to the hon. Member online and in hard copy.

Profumo Inquiry

George Galloway: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office for what reasons the evidence given to the Denning inquiry into the Profumo affair has not been published.

Francis Maude: As stated in paragraph 7 of his report, Lord Denning assured each witness that the information given to him would be treated in strict confidence and would be used only for the purposes of his inquiry report. The documents are, however, covered by the Public Records Act 1958 and have been selected for permanent preservation.

Retail Trade

Ann Coffey: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people are employed in the retail trade as a proportion of the total number employed, by (a) region and (b) constituency in the last five years for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people are employed in the retail trade as a proportion of the total number employed, by (a) region and (b) constituency in the last five years for which figures are available.
	Annual employment statistics from 2008 onwards are available from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). The tables show the number employed in the retail sector as a percentage of the total number employed in each region (Table 1) and each parliamentary constituency (Table 2).
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	A copy of the table will be placed in the Library of the House.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Direct Selling

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Telephone Preference Service in preventing unwanted calls; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a free service and more than 19.5 million numbers are currently registered with the TPS. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) considers complaints and can issue a monetary penalty of up to £500,000. Since January 2012, the ICO has issued four substantive monetary penalties totalling £360,000 and action against other organisations is also under current consideration. Additionally, in spring 2014 the Office of Communications (Ofcom) will be reviewing the effectiveness of the TPS in preventing unwanted calls and we will consider Ofcom's findings to determine whether further action is necessary:
	http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/silent-calls/joint-action-plan

Direct Selling

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen the laws relating to nuisance telephone calls and texts.

Edward Vaizey: We outlined our future plans to tackle nuisance calls and texts in our strategy paper “Connectivity, Content and Consumers: Britain's digital platform for growth”, which was published on 30 July 2013:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/connectivity-content-and-consumers-britains-digital-platform-for-growth
	This includes bringing forward legislation to enable the Office of Communications (Ofcom) to share information more easily with the Information Commissioner's (ICO), in relation to organisations that make unsolicited marketing nuisance calls, so more effective enforcement action can be taken. Also, we are considering the scope to lower the legal threshold, which needs to be met before the ICO can issue a monetary penalty. Our further thinking will be set out in our action plan, which will be published shortly.

Direct Selling

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what is the strongest action possible that can be taken against companies who break the law in relation to nuisance calls.

Edward Vaizey: Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) can issue a monetary penalty of up to £500,000 to an organisation, which wilfully or negligently makes unsolicited direct marketing nuisance calls to Telephone Preference Service (TPS) registered numbers, or when a caller has been advised not to make further calls to a particular number. Additionally, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) can issue a monetary penalty of up to £2 million to organisations that breach their statement of policy on persistent misuse, which includes making abandoned and silent calls.

Direct Selling

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many nuisance calls have been reported to the Information Commissioner's Office in each of the last five years.

Edward Vaizey: The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has advised that they are unable provide information for the last five years, due to the retention period they operate under, however complaint numbers in respect of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003, since 2009 were as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Calls where a recorded voice was heard Calls where the consumer spoke to a person 
			 2009-10 1,640 1,735 
			 2010-11 1,733 1,691 
			 2011-121 3,679 1,686 
			 2012-13 75,838 42,422 
			 2013-142 59,447 40,231 
			 1 A change was made to the ICO's reporting system at the end of 2011-12, which enabled consumers to more easily report complaints on line through their website reporting tool. 2 Year to date 30 November 2013.

Internet

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether access to any websites or domains is blocked from computers in her Department; and if she will publish a list of all such websites and domains to which access is prohibited.

Helen Grant: There is no specific list of blocked websites. Rather, DCMS uses a web protection tool that intelligently filters or blocks access to certain types of inappropriate content such as pornography.

Newspapers: Regulation

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she has instructed the Public Appointments Commissioner to draw up guidelines for the Recognition Panel for the purposes of newspaper regulation.

Edward Vaizey: The Commissioner for Public Appointments carries specific responsibilities under the Charter. The Commissioner's role is commenced the day following the date the Charter is sealed. The Charter sets out the terms under which appointments to the panel will be made, including eligibility criteria for membership of the Appointments Committee and the Board of the Recognition Panel.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in her Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Helen Grant: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not mentioned the word 'poverty' in any parliamentary answer in the 2011-12 or 2012-13 Sessions.

Press: Regulation

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the cost to (a) the budget of the Commissioner for Public Appointments and (b) the public purse of the establishment of a recognition panel for the purposes of newspaper regulation.

Edward Vaizey: The Commissioner acts independently of Government. The Royal Charter, which includes funding details, has been published here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/leveson-report-cross-party-royal-charter

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 31 October 2013, Official Report, column 552W, on unmanned air vehicles: Afghanistan, to what proportion of legitimate military objectives for targeting by UK unmanned aerial vehicles in Afghanistan have pattern of life analyses contributed. [R]

Philip Dunne: Pattern of life analysis is always undertaken prior to any kinetic strike being conducted.

Afghanistan

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 4 September 2013, Official Report, column 402W, on Afghanistan, what the number, squadron and rank is of US Air Force personnel who man UK Reapers other than those in 62 Expeditionary Squadron responsible for launch and recovery of those assets. [R]

Philip Dunne: US Air Force personnel do not operate UK Reapers outside of the launch and recovery phase on UK missions.

Aircraft Carriers

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of establishing a dedicated National Grid supply to support the first of the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers.

Philip Dunne: Establishing a dedicated National Grid supply to meet future electricity demand is one element of the £100 million investment in infrastructure at Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth.
	The provision of a National Grid connection is currently the subject of contract negotiations with potential suppliers, and I am therefore withholding the information requested as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether additional Reaper aircraft will be introduced to Afghanistan under an urgent operation requirement; [R]
	(2)  pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Moray, of 15 October 2013, Official Report, column 640W, on armed forces: deployment, whether acceptance testing of the five additional Reaper aircraft has been completed. [R]

Philip Dunne: The acquisition of the five additional Reaper aircraft to support operations in Afghanistan will continue to be managed as an Urgent Operational Requirement. Acceptance testing of four of the five new aircraft has been completed; acceptance testing for the last aircraft should complete over the coming weeks.

Armed Forces: Vaccination

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) vaccinations and (b) inoculations are administered to armed forces personnel (i) on entry to the services and (ii) routinely throughout a service career; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy identifies which diseases members of the UK armed forces should be protected against. This policy is based on the Health Protection England publication—“Immunisation Against Infectious Disease: The Green Book. The Green Book refers to vaccination rather than inoculation”.
	Deployable Service personnel at every stage of their Service career are protected against:
	Diphtheria
	Hepatitis A and B
	Measles, Mumps and Rubella
	Pertussis
	Poliomyelitis
	Tetanus
	Tuberculosis
	Yellow Fever
	Personnel who have no deployed role should not routinely be offered vaccination against Hepatitis A, Tuberculosis or Yellow Fever. Other vaccinations may be offered if a medical risk assessment indicates that personnel may be exposed to other infectious disease threats.

Defence: Procurement

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on joint European equipment acquisition projects in each year since 2008.

Philip Dunne: The information requested is annually collated by the European Defence Agency and publicly available on its website at the following link:
	http://www.eda.europa.eu/defencedata

Internet

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether access to any websites or domains is blocked from computers in his Department; and if he will publish a list of all such websites and domains to which access is prohibited.

Anna Soubry: All the computers on the Ministry of Defence (MOD)'s major networks connect to the Internet via the Enterprise Gateway Service (EGS). At the EGS the MOD determines whether requests to a particular site are allowed using categorisation software.
	Those sites the software is configured to block include:
	categories such as gambling and pornography;
	individual sites such as commercial auction sites;
	ones that pose a technical security risk, including web based mail systems, translation sites, those using mobile code;
	Social Media. Though this is under review as the MOD seeks to balance the potential benefits against the specific risks posed by such sites to Defence networks.
	There are some computers in the MOD with direct internet connections, used for specific purposes outside the main networks. The way that each of these is configured will be determined by local management as required.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Anna Soubry: The word "poverty" has been mentioned once in answers to parliamentary questions in the Sessions 2011-12 and 2012-13. This was in response to a question from the hon. Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell) on 6 February 2013, Official Report, column 224W.

Radioactive Waste: Fife

Gordon Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  when he expects work to clean up radioactive material in Dalgety Bay to begin;
	(2)  when he expects to sign an agreement with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on the clean-up of Dalgety Bay radiation.

Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) remains committed to playing an active role, alongside other interested parties, in achieving a long-term solution at Dalgety Bay.
	The MOD continues to work with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to develop a detailed risk assessment in order to ensure any mitigation or remediation is both effective and proportionate to the nature of the risk.
	We support SEPA's efforts to bring all the interested parties together early in 2014 to discuss potential solutions, and our beach monitoring continues to ensure the risk to the public at Dalgety Bay remains very low.

Tornado Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) airprox incidents and (b) collisions there have been involving Tornado aircraft in each year since 1998.

Mark Francois: The airprox incidents and collisions involving Tornado aircraft in each year since 1998 are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Airprox involving Tornado Aircraft Collisions involving Tornado aircraft 
			 1998 38 0 
			 1999 33 1 
			 2000 35 0 
			 2001 29 0 
			 2002 27 0 
			 2003 34 0 
			 2004 20 0 
			 2005 21 0 
			 2006 18 0 
			 2007 10 0 
			 2008 8 0 
			 2009 9 0 
			 2010 23 0 
			 2011 15 0 
			 2012 28 1 
			 2013 to date 13 0 
			 Total 361 2 
		
	
	An airprox is a situation in which, in the opinion of a pilot or a controller, the distance between aircraft as well as their relative positions and speed have been such that the safety of the aircraft involved was or may have been compromised.
	The figures in the table include Tornado GR4 aircraft and earlier variants of these aircraft, including the Tornado F3 which have since been withdrawn from service.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether operational command of unmanned aerial vehicles allocated for use by NATO can revert to US command to enable it to engage in operations outside the International Security Assistance Force mission.

Philip Dunne: The UK's unmanned aerial vehicle platforms are national assets and only operate in support of the NATO led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Moray, of 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 102W, on unmanned air vehicles, what steps are outstanding in the Watchkeeper release to service process. [R]

Philip Dunne: The programme recently received a Statement of Type Design Assurance from the Military Aviation Authority; this is a key component of the certification process which will allow the Ministry of Defence to progress towards the initial release to service (RTS). The remaining steps include completion of the initial RTS recommendations by defence equipment and support, and duty holder assurance activities, which are expected over the coming months.

Veterans: Homelessness

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to tackle homelessness among military veterans; what estimate he has made of the number of homeless former members of the armed forces; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The 2012-13 figures reported by the Combined Homelessness and Information Network indicate that 3% of those found sleeping rough in London say that they have served in our armed forces. This represents a 1% decrease against the previous year. We would like to bring the numbers down further.
	The Department for Communities and Local Government has responsibility for homelessness issues. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has introduced a number of initiatives in order to minimise the risk of service personnel becoming homeless on leaving the armed forces. Most recently, we announced the new £200 million Forces Help to Buy scheme which will commence on 1 April 2014. It will mean that servicemen and women can borrow up to 50% of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000, interest-free, providing a boost to those needing to find a deposit to buy their own home. This will replace the current advance of salary and the Armed Forces Home Ownership Scheme, which enable service personnel to purchase their own homes. These initiatives will continue to 2014 and 2015.
	To assist the transition of serving personnel to civilian life, the MOD offers a wide-ranging resettlement programme which includes a briefing by the Joint Services Housing Advice Office. This offers advice and information about a range of topics that armed forces personnel may find useful relating to an individual's housing needs before they leave the armed forces.
	In addition, the MOD has supported the establishment of two supported housing schemes for ex-service personnel-Mike Jackson House in Aldershot, which opened in 2008, and The Beacon at Catterick, which opened to residents in September 2011. The focus is on helping individuals to develop independent living skills and with finding suitable ‘move on’ permanent accommodation, training and employment. Both schemes are managed by Riverside English Churches Housing Group.
	Once a person leaves service, any need for social housing becomes a local authority matter. The MOD is working closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure the fair treatment of service families in need of social housing and ensure they are given proper priority on housing waiting lists.

Veterans: Military Decorations

Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the processing backlog of medals for veterans.

Anna Soubry: The average time taken to process medal applications received from veterans is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Award Veteran (weeks) 
			 Current Operations 2 
			 Post World War 2 8 
			 Bomber Command Clasps 6 
			 Arctic Stars 6 
			 Other World War 2 Awards 6 
		
	
	The information provided is based on applications completed between 1 January 2013 and 5 December 2013.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Office's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Nicholas Clegg: The content of the Official Report is a matter of public record and is readily accessible to the hon. Member online and in hard copy.

EDUCATION

Academies

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which schools that have not been given a requires improvement grade from Ofsted have been visited by an academy broker since May 2010.

Edward Timpson: The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of visits by academy brokers.
	The Department may instruct an academy broker to visit any school where a sponsored academy solution is being considered. This includes all schools judged as inadequate by Ofsted since May 2010, schools judged by Ofsted to require improvement and schools with a history of underperformance. Academy brokers do not routinely visit schools judged as good or outstanding unless there are performance concerns or it is appropriate in the course of agreeing a local academy solution.

Apprentices

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reasons only eight per cent of employers in England currently offer apprenticeships.

Matthew Hancock: According to a UKCES survey, in England 14% of workplaces either currently employ apprentices or offer apprenticeships1. In 2010, a similar survey found that 9% of workplaces either employed or offered apprenticeships2.
	The three main reasons why workplaces are not currently offering apprenticeships are:
	a lack of awareness;
	they choose not to;
	or they have real or perceived barriers preventing them from doing so.
	1 The UKCES Employer Perspectives Survey 2012
	2 While the surveys are not directly comparable, the authors state that the figures ‘suggest that the proportion of employers offering formal Apprenticeships has increased significantly in the last two to three years’.

ICT

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people are employed within centralised IT departments or teams in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education has 201 staff working in centralised IT departments, as at 31 October 2013. The proportion of the Department's staff working in IT has fallen since May 2010. This is in the context of the Department reducing its administration costs by 50% in real terms by 2014-15.

Kings Science Academy

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  if he will publish all notes held by his Department of the telephone call from his Department to Action Fraud on 25 April 2013 reporting the alleged fraud at Kings School Academy, Bradford;
	(2)  if his Department would make a formal request to Action Fraud for a transcript of the recording Action Fraud made of the phone call from his Department on 25 April 2013 reporting allegations of fraud at Kings Science Academy, Bradford, and for the report made by Action Fraud on the basis of that phone call and passed to the National Fraud Investigation Bureau.

Edward Timpson: The Department does not hold notes of the telephone call to Action Fraud on 25 April 2013. The Department does not intend to make a request to Action Fraud for a transcript of any recording made by them, nor any report by Action Fraud arising from the telephone call.

Kings Science Academy

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  when his Department was first made aware of the Crowe Clark and Whitehill Report into Kings Science Academy in Bradford;
	(2)  when his Department was informed of the conclusions of the Crowe Clark and Whitehill Report into Kings Science Academy in Bradford;
	(3)  when his Department's Internal Audit Investigation Team were aware of the conclusions of the Crowe Clark and Whitehill Report prior to that team's investigation into Kings Science Academy in Bradford.

Edward Timpson: The Department was made aware of work being undertaken by Crowe Clark Whitehill on behalf of Kings Science Academy's governing body on 24 October 2012. A copy of the final report, dated 8 December 2012, was shared with the Department on 10 December 2012. This was included in the briefing given to the internal audit investigation team on 10 January 2013.

Kings Science Academy

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what support his Department provided in September 2011 to the governing body of Kings Science Academy when concerns were raised about the body's educational and financial experience.

Edward Timpson: Academies and free schools are responsible for their own education and financial management. All free schools are visited by education advisers after they have opened to assess progress.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Elizabeth Truss: The content of the Official Report is a matter of public record and is readily accessible to the hon. Member online and in hard copy.

Schools: Inspections

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many officials in his Department have observed lessons in (a) academies and (b) free schools since May 2010; and in which schools such observations were carried out.

Edward Timpson: It is not the role of officials in the Department for Education to undertake lesson observations in academies or free schools. The Department however contracts the services of Education Advisers to carry out lesson observations as appropriate.
	Education Advisers conduct lesson observations in all open free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges (UTCs) at their post-opening monitoring visits. 179 free schools, UTCs and studio schools have had lesson observations carried out by an Education Adviser to date. 226 free schools, UTCs and studio schools will have had lesson observations by the end of this school term.

Schools: Northamptonshire

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) primary school places and (b) secondary school places have been created in (i) Corby constituency and (ii) East Northamptonshire since May 2010.

David Laws: The most recent information available on primary and secondary school capacity in Northamptonshire relates to the position in May 2012.
	We do not collect data by constituencies or parts of counties. The results from our annual survey for Northamptonshire since 2010 are detailed in the tables.
	In 2012, the data show an increase of 404 primary places since 2010:
	
		
			  Places 
			 2010 60,733 
			 2011 60,973 
			 2012 61,137 
		
	
	In 2012, the data show an increase of 670 secondary places since 2010:
	
		
			  Places 
			 2010 53,703 
			 2011 54,790 
			 2012 54,373 
		
	
	It is the responsibility of each local authority to balance the supply and demand for primary and secondary school places in their area, and secure a place for every child of statutory age who wants one. The Department provided £41.88 million from 2011-12 to 2014-15 to support this, an increase of just over 30% against the £29.05 million provided over the preceding four year period (from 2007-08 to 2010-11).

Science: Qualifications

Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the proportion of students studying STEM subjects at (a) GCSE and (b) A-level in each of the last five years.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department does not hold information on the number of students studying STEM subjects. Information on the proportion of students attempting STEM subject examinations has been provided in the following table. Information has been provided for attempts in both STEM subjects individually and for at least one STEM subject.
	
		
			 (a) GCSE examination attempts of pupils at the end of key stage 4 in schools, by STEM subjects. Years: 2008/09 to 2012/131, 2. Coverage: England 
			  Percentage of pupils attempting GCSE4 examinations 
			 Subject3 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 
			 Mathematics 93 93 93 93 93 
			 Core Science 72 63 56 50 51 
			 Additional Science 51 45 40 39 39 
			 Additional Applied Science 7 6 5 3 2 
			 Physics 13 18 21 24 24 
			 Chemistry 13 18 21 24 24 
			 Biological Sciences 14 18 21 24 24 
			 Other Sciences5 4 3 3 2 1 
		
	
	
		
			 D & T: Electronic Products 2 2 2 1 1 
			 D & T: Food Technology 11 10 9 8 7 
			 D & T: Graphic Products 9 8 7 7 6 
			 D & T: Resistant Materials 12 11 9 9 8 
			 D & T: Systems & Control 1 1 1 1 1 
			 D & T: Textiles Technology 6 6 5 5. 4 
			 Other Design and Technology6 5 5 5 5 5 
			 Applied Engineering7 - - - 0 0 
			 Information Technology8 9 7 6 6 9 
			 At least one STEM subject9 96 96 96 96 95 
			 Number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 634,496 639,263 627,093 620,617 635,078 
			 ‘-’= Not applicable. 1 2012/13 figures are provisional, all other years are revised. 2 Includes attempts by these pupils in previous academic years. 3 Individual subject figures are published. 4 As a percentage of pupils at the end of key stage 4. 5 Includes Double Award Science and Applied Science. 6 Includes all other combined syllabus of which Design and Technology is the major part. 7 Zero percentages represent small numbers due to rounding. 8 Also includes Computer Studies, Information Systems and any combined syllabus of which Information Technology is the major part. 9 STEM figures are not published. They were produced based on final data, with the exception of 2012/13 figures, which are based on provisional data. Source: 2012/13 key stage 4 attainment data (Provisional) 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) GCE A-level1 attempts of students aged 16 to 192 by STEM subjects. Years: 2008/09 to 2012/133. Coverage: England 
			  Percentage of pupils attempting A-level4 
			 Subject 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 
			 Maths 24 25 27 27 28 
			 Further Maths 4 4 4 5 5 
			 Biological Sciences 18 19 20 20 20 
			 Chemistry 14 15 16 16 17 
			 Physics 10 10 11 11 11 
			 Other Sciences 1 2 2 2 2 
			 Design and Technology 6 6 6 5 5 
			 Computer Studies 2 1 1 1 1 
			 ICT5 3 3 3 3 3 
		
	
	
		
			 Applied Engineering - - - - - 
			 At least one STEM subject 45 46 47 48 48 
			 Any subject 254,138 261,197 253,741 257,044 260,810 
			 ‘-’= Not applicable 1 Includes A-levels only. 2 Covers students aged 16, 17 or 18 at the start of the academic year, ie 31 August. 3 2012/13 figures are provisional, all other years are final. 4 As a percentage of pupils at the end of key stage 5 attempting any subject at A-level. 5 Information, Communication and Technology Note: Where qualifications taken by a student are in the same subject area and similar in content 'discounting' rules have been applied to avoid double counting qualifications. Source: 2012/13 key stage 5 attainment data (provisional)

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Air Pollution

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effect of the classification of emissions associated with energy generation from combined heat and power and recycling of waste gases from certain industries on the calculation of the manufacturing sector emissions cap.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change has made no such assessment. In accordance with the 2003 EU ETS Directive (2003/87/EC), as amended, and the 2011 Free Allocation Decision (2011/278/EU), calculation of the manufacturing sector emissions cap is the responsibility of the European Commission.

Boilers: Biofuels

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consultation his Department undertook (a) before and (b) after the implementation of recent changes to renewable heat initiative scheme funding for biomass boilers.

Gregory Barker: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 November 2013, Official Report, column 16-17W.
	We published the consultation ‘Non-Domestic Scheme Early Tariff Review’ on 31 May 2013, the same day as our first degression announcement, which was open for responses until 28 June 2013. You can view the consultation at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/204446/Tariff_Review_Consultation_for_PUBLICATION.pdf
	There was no formal consultation following the degression announcements in May, but we received informal feedback from stakeholders about the announcement.
	On 4 December, we published a Government policy document on the RHI: ‘Improving Support, Increasing Uptake’. This is available through our website at:
	www.gov.uk/decc/rhi
	The announcements relating to biomass in this document were:
	Increase in support for large biomass boilers (i.e. of more than 1 megawatt capacity) to 2p per kilowatt hour (p/kWh).
	The introduction of a dedicated tariff of 4.1 p/kWh for Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance Programme (CHPQA)-certified biomass CHP, excluding energy from waste.
	Continued application of the standard solid biomass tariff, now 2.0p/kWhs to the biogenic content of energy from waste.
	In addition, we intend for the Biomass Suppliers List to be open for applications from suppliers of solid biomass in spring 2014. This will give biomass suppliers the time they need to prepare for the mandatory implementation of the criteria in autumn 2014.
	DECC intends to introduce the following legislated requirements for sustainable biomass in the RHI scheme:
	Minimum 60% GHG emission saving relative to EU fossil fuel heat average (=4.8g CO2 per MJ), from autumn 2014.
	Land criteria which correspond to meeting the UK timber procurement policy for woody biomass, from 1 April 2015, subject to parliamentary processes.
	In order to provide flexibility and simplify scheme administration and the Biomass Suppliers List in future years, we have amended RHI policy so that sustainability standards are not grandfathered. We intend that all existing and new applicants to the non-domestic RHI should comply with any updated criteria, from the date the amended legislation comes into force.
	The 4 December document was a response to three consultations and a call for evidence, as follows:
	“Expanding the non-domestic scheme”. This was published on 20 September 2012 and was open for responses until 7 December 2012. You can view the consultation at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/66160/RHI_-_expanding_the_non-domestic_scheme.pdf
	“Air to Water Heat Pumps and Energy from Waste”. This was published on 20 September 2012 and was open for responses until 18 October 2012. You can view the consultation at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/66605/6452-renewable-heat-incentive-air-to-water-heat-pumps-.pdf
	The early tariff review consultation mentioned above.
	A call for evidence on large biomass. This was published on 20 September 2012 and was open for responses until 18 October 2012. You can view the document at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/66167/RHI_call_for_evidence_-_large_biomass.pdf
	Apart from these formal approaches, there are informal discussions between DECC and stakeholders regarding the detailed policy.
	It remains our intention to introduce the changes outlined in our 4 December announcement in spring 2014.

Developing Countries: Climate Change

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the written statement of 28 November 2013, Official Report, column 21WS, on Warsaw Climate Change Conference, what assessment he has made of the potential need for public funding in addition to private finance in order to help the most vulnerable people in the poorest countries to survive extreme and erratic weather; if he will make an assessment of the potential for providing climate finance through (a) a financial transaction tax, (b) fair charges on emissions from international transport and (c) redirection of fossil fuel subsidies; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The two most comprehensive recent assessments of the costs of adaptation are the World Bank, Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC) ($71 billion to $82 billion average annual flows between 2010 and 2050) and the UNFCCC, Investment and Financial Flows study ($28 billion to $67 billion per year by 2030), although these are subject to considerable uncertainty. These assessments indicate that there is an important role for public finance to reduce the impacts on the most vulnerable in the poorest countries who are least able to protect themselves from extreme and erratic weather, although it is not the case that all of these finance needs should necessarily be met from public sources.
	We are committed with other developed countries to jointly mobilise $100 billion of public and private climate finance a year by 2020, in the context of meaningful mitigation, and transparency of action.
	The UK is providing £3.87 billion through the International Climate Fund (ICF) to support developing countries, to demonstrate low carbon development, protect forests and to help the poorest countries adapt to the impacts of climate change. The ICF is allocated as part of general Government expenditure, and is not raised through the hypothecation of revenues from any specific source.
	A range of sources will be required to meet the $100 billion goal. Alongside direct budget contributions, we consider private finance, the Multilateral Development Banks, carbon markets and revenues from international transport measures to be the most promising sources of climate finance. We are working with international bodies like the UNFCCC, the International Financial Institutions, and the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the International Maritime Organisation, the G20 and others to support action in their areas on the back of the report of the UN Advisory Group on Finance (AGF).
	The UK strongly supports the development of global regimes for addressing emissions from international aviation and maritime transport in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and welcomes the agreement at the ICAO General Assembly in October to develop a global market based measure for aviation by 2016.
	The Government supports efforts to reduce fossil fuel subsidies to enable countries to reduce emissions while freeing up resources for other spending such as targeting poverty alleviation and increasing resilience to climate change.
	The Government has no objection to Financial Transaction Taxes (FTT) in principle, but does not support the European Commission's proposals for a FTT. Any FTT would have to apply globally due to the risk of economic activity relocating to jurisdictions not applying the tax. No international consensus currently exists for a global FTT.

Energy: Conservation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the Prime Minister's speech of 4 February 2013 on energy efficiency and his Statement of 12 July 2012, on binding energy efficiency targets, if he will make it his policy to support a binding EU-level energy efficiency target for 2030; if he will make an assessment of the contribution that such a binding target could have on (a) jobs, (b) energy security, (c) carbon reduction and (d) savings for households and businesses; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Government considers energy efficiency an integral part of climate and energy policy for the long term but we should not risk pre-judging the most cost-effective pathway to achieving greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The Government made this clear in its opposition to a binding European Union energy efficiency target for 2030 within its response to the European Commission's Green Paper, "A 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy Policies". Therefore, no assessment has been made of the effect of a binding energy efficiency target on the factors the hon. Member has cited.

Fracking

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what evidence will be considered as adequate to demonstrate how decisions about the exploration and production of shale gas energy meet the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (2011/92/EU).

Nicholas Boles: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	The requirements relating to environmental impact assessment are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011. When considering proposals for the exploration and production of shale gas, the relevant mineral planning authority will determine whether an environmental impact assessment is required. The Department publishes practice guidance to help secure the appropriate implementation of the directive.

Insulation

Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many times he has met with representatives of the insulation sector in the last three months.

Gregory Barker: Details of meetings between Ministers and external organisations are published quarterly on the departmental website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-energy-climate-change/series/ministers-meeting-with-external-organisations

Pay

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the median gross pay of (a) men and (b) women is in each pay band in his Department.

Gregory Barker: The median gross earnings of (a) men and (b) women in each pay band in DECC is published, in the Civil Service Statistics 2013 which can be found here:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/civil-service-statistics/2013/rft-statistical-bulletin-tables--2013.xls

Renewable Energy: Scotland

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2013, Official Report, column 974, if he will publish all correspondence between Ministers and officials in his Department and their counterparts in the Scottish Government on closure of the renewable obligation and transitional arrangements.

Gregory Barker: In order not to inhibit free and frank exchanges between the UK Government and the devolved Administrations, correspondence of this nature is not published.

Warm Front Scheme: Corby

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households in Corby constituency have received assistance under the Home Energy Efficiency scheme since its inception.

Gregory Barker: The Department has been responsible for a number of energy efficiency schemes including Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT), Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) and the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), of which only information on measures installed under ECO are available at parliamentary constituency level.
	The provisional number of measures installed in the Corby constituency up to the end of June 2013, was 331. By ECO obligation, 65 measures were under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Obligation (CERO), 161 measures were under, the Carbon Savings Community Obligation (CSCO), and 105 measures were under Affordable Warmth (HHCRO).
	The provisional number of ECO measures by ECO obligation by parliamentary constituency up to the end of September 2013, will be released on 19 December 2013.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Plastic Bags

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2013, Official Report, column 299W, on plastic bags, if he will make an assessment of the increased risk of food poisoning as a result of reuse of carrier bags.

Jane Ellison: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department of Health.
	There are no current plans to make an assessment of the increased risk of food poisoning as a result of reuse of carrier bags as there is currently no clear evidence of cases of illness linked to their use.
	The potential for an increased risk through the reuse of carrier bags has been recognised and relevant advice for consumers has been published by the Food Standards Agency and can be found at:
	www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2012/jul/carrierbags

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Dan Rogerson: The contents of the Official Report is a matter of public record and is readily accessible to the hon. Member online and in hard copy.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Cyprus

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of progress made in talks between President Anastasiades and Dr. Eroglu in reaching a joint settlement on the reunification of Cyprus.

David Lidington: Representatives of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities have been discussing a joint statement on the principles for a comprehensive settlement. President Anastasiades and Dr Eroglu last met informally on 25 November, and we hope that a first formal meeting can take place in the near future to mark the resumption of fully-fledged negotiations. Cypriots now have the best chance in years to achieve a just, lasting, and comprehensive settlement.

Cyprus

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to seek a resolution on Cyprus to create a bizonal, bicommunal federation with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship.

David Lidington: The UK remains committed to supporting the UN's efforts to achieve a settlement based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality as defined by the relevant Security Council resolutions. It is for the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to agree on the precise terms of a solution.

Cyprus

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the UK's role is in assisting international efforts to achieve an agreed settlement in Cyprus.

David Lidington: As a long-standing friend of Cyprus, the UK continues to support the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in their search for a solution. We support the UN in its role, and regularly discuss the need for a settlement with a range of actors, including the other Guarantor Powers, the US, and European partners.

Cyprus

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken to alleviate the financial crisis in Cyprus.

David Lidington: We are providing technical assistance in support of Cyprus’ efforts to implement the Troika Memorandum, which sets the framework for Troika support to the Cypriot economy. British expertise is helping to review and restructure parts of Cyprus’ central and local government. We recognise that President Anastasiades is leading Cyprus through an extremely challenging time, and commend his courage in seeing through the tough reforms required.

Cyprus

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the recent proposal by Cypriot President Anastasiades for the return of Famagusta to its former inhabitants.

David Lidington: We support proposals which would help build trust between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. We welcome President Anastasiades' wish to demonstrate progress in the talks. Over the years, the Varosha area of Famagusta has been the subject of a series of proposals. Several attempts have been made to broker a deal as a confidence-building measure, so far without success. We support the ongoing efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement, the success of which would guarantee the resolution of this issue.

Cyprus

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on recent statements made by Dr Eroglu about an agreement on Cyprus.

David Lidington: I continue to follow the situation closely. I am aware of statements made by representatives from both communities on the settlement process. It remains important for all parties to use their public statements to support the prospects of a comprehensive settlement.

Cyprus

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to increase co-operation with Cyprus on foreign policy.

David Lidington: We value our co-operation with Cyprus in a broad range of areas, including foreign policy. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), met Cyprus Foreign Minister Kasoulides in June, where they discussed, among other subjects, security in the middle east. During my recent visit to Cyprus, I discussed with Foreign Minister Kasoulides co-operation on a range of foreign policy issues including EU reform and enlargement. Further contact between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Cypriot Ministers will develop this co-operation over the long term.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to promote transparency and reduce corruption in the mining industry in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mark Simmonds: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State, Department for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr Duncan), on 22 November 2013, Official Report, column 1043W.

Diplomatic Service

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people are employed by the Consular Crisis Centre.

Mark Simmonds: Crisis Management Department employ 31 staff in the Crisis Centre at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). During a crisis, these staff members would be augmented by trained volunteers and experts from across the FCO and wider Government.

Diplomatic Service

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which three Consular Services offices received the most enquiries for help in the last 12 months.

Mark Simmonds: Over the past 12 months the consular offices that received the highest volumes of requests for assistance were Malaga (3,596), Paris (3,442) and Alicante (3,408).

Georgia

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to improve the UK-Georgia relationship.

David Lidington: The UK and Georgia already enjoy a strong bilateral relationship. We work together on areas of common interest including security, democratisation and trade. For example, the UK seconds a Special Defence Adviser to the Georgian Ministry of Defence and is helping develop the Georgian Government's crisis management capacity.
	Our embassy in Tbilisi has just begun a year-long GREAT campaign, designed to raise the UK's profile in Georgia even further and boost trade. We plan to extend commercial, educational and cultural links between the two countries in 2014. The bilateral relationship is further supported by a range of inward and outward visits by UK and Georgian Ministers and senior officials.

Internet

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether access to any websites or domains is blocked from computers in his Department; and if he will publish a list of all such websites and domains to which access is prohibited.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) complies with the policies set out in the Government's Security Policy Framework (SPF), particularly Mandatory Requirement (MR) 39. MR 39 requires Departments to comply with the requirements of any Codes of Connection, including technical and procedural policies to manage the risks posed by all forms of malicious software.
	The number of websites covered by this policy is large and is kept under constant review. It is therefore is not practical to provide an exhaustive list of all websites blocked. However, access to the following categories of website are banned in order to comply with the SPF, the FCO's Acceptable Use Policy and to control bandwidth demands on the FCO's Corporate infrastructure:
	those that contain viruses, trojans or other malicious software;
	sites that by-pass anti-virus defences;
	pornography and hate sites;
	gaming and gambling;
	bandwidth intensive sites which place excessive demands on the FCO's corporate infrastructure.
	The FCO will consider requests to access sites that fall under banned categories if there is a strong business need for them and they do not pose a risk to the corporate net.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

David Lidington: This information is not held within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and responding to this question would incur disproportionate cost.

HEALTH

Bed Bugs: Tower Hamlets

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the prevalence of bed bugs in Tower Hamlets.

Jane Ellison: The Department does not hold information on the prevalence of bedbugs in Tower Hamlets. Control of bed bug infestations is a local authority matter.

Carers

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has given to local authority social services departments to ensure that details of care packages are conveyed to the receiving local authority when individuals from one area move to another; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: The Care Bill will for the first time set out a process that local authorities will have to comply with which will ensure that a person receiving care and support will continue to do so if they decide to move home to another authority.
	The Bill will require the local authority where the person originally lives to provide certain information about the person's care and support to the authority he or she is moving to, including a copy of their care and support plan.
	The second authority must take this into account when developing a new care and support plan. The new care and support plan could be different from the original one as the person's needs could have changed as a result of the move, for example the person may have moved to be closer to family or to take up employment or they may want to arrange services differently and as a result the outcomes they want to achieve could have changed.
	The Department will issue statutory guidance to local authorities to support the implementation of the Care Bill, which will include providing further advice on the continuity of care provisions.

Cockermouth Community Hospital

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will review the tendering for a pharmacy at Cockermouth Hospital.

Daniel Poulter: Tendering decisions relating to the Cockermouth hospital site are a local matter and it would be for NHS England to consider whether a review of any tendering decision would be appropriate.

Diabetes

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many (a) males and (b) females in each (i) age group and (ii) location received structured education courses in the NHS for individuals with type 1 diabetes in each of the last three years for which information is available;
	(2)  what funding his Department provides for structured education courses in the National Health Service for individuals with type 1 diabetes; how much such funding is planned in each of the next two years; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what the current eligibility criteria are for structured education courses on the NHS for individuals with type 1 diabetes; whether any changes to the criteria are planned in the next two years; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what schemes are currently in place to increase public awareness of (a) the symptoms associated with diabetes and (b) the best ways to assist diabetes sufferers in emergencies; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: For patients with type 1 diabetes, patient empowerment and self-care through education is a major priority for NHS England As at 1 April this year, there are two measures in place to promote provision of structured education for those with Type 1 diabetes:
	A new quality outcomes framework indicator has been introduced, incentivizing provision of structured education within nine months of first diagnosis.
	If someone with type 1 diabetes is admitted with diabetic ketoacidosis a new best practice tariff rewards the provision of structured education within three months of their discharge from hospital.
	The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Quality Standard For diabetes, published in July 2011, sets out that people with diabetes should receive a structured educational programme. There are a number of education courses available on the national health service for people with diabetes. The most common structured education programme for Type 1 diabetes is Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE). Since the DAFNE approach relies on carbohydrate estimation, it can be applied to any diet as long as the carbohydrate content of the food can be established.
	There is no requirement for a specific level of education. The DAFNE programme provides guidance on who might benefit from DAFNE, but these are not criteria to be adhered to. It is up to individual clinicians to assess whether DAFNE is suitable for the patient on a case-by-case basis.
	The funding of structured education courses for people with diabetes is the responsibility, of local clinical commissioning groups. The 2011-12 National Diabetes Audit report, published in October 2013, includes high-level analysis on what percentage of people registered with diabetes receive accredited structured education in line with NICE guidance. The report set out that for those people newly diagnosed as diabetic, 0.6% of patients with Type 1 and 3.1% of patients with Type 2 are recorded as attending structured education. For all people with diabetes, these figures are l% for Type 1, 1.4% for Type 2. The audit report can be found at the following link:
	https://catalogue.ic.nhs.uk/publications/clinical/diabetes/nati-diab-audi-11-12/nati-diab-audi-11-12-care-proc-rep.pdf
	Regarding awareness initiatives, this year NHS England and Public Health England have supported the largest ever Type 2 diabetes awareness campaign, launched by Diabetes UK in September. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the risk factors of Type 2 diabetes and enable people to understand their risk of developing the condition. More information can be found at the following link:
	www.diabetes.org.uk/awareness-campaign
	As part of this awareness raising I have taken part in a number of parliamentary events and spoken about diabetes in the media.
	Local commissioners may also undertake awareness initiatives for local, populations.

Health Services: Cornwall

Sheryll Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) clinical, (b) managerial and (c) clerical NHS staff in Cornwall were paid more than (i) £50,000, (ii) £65,738 and (iii) £100,000 in the last year for which figures are available.

Daniel Poulter: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following table.
	
		
			 NHS Hospital and Community Health Service workforce statistics—Provisional Statistics: All professionally qualified clinical staff, managerial staff and administrative staff in the Cornwall area with total earnings1 over specified amounts 2008-132 (headcount of staff in each category) 
			  July 2012 - June 2013 
			 Total earnings in the period Professionally qualified clinical staff Managers and senior managers Administrative staff3 
			 Over £50,000 511 142 — 
			 Over £65,738 332 67 — 
			 Over £100,000 181 15 — 
		
	
	
		
			 1 Total earnings per person is the amount paid to an individual in the specified 12 month period, regardless of the contracted full time equivalent. It includes all payments made to the individual, not just basic pay. 2 The most recently published earnings information available is for June 2013, therefore annual average estimates have been provided as at June for the years 2009-13. 3 Includes those staff with occupation code G2A: Infrastructure Support—Central Functions and G2B: Infrastructure Support—Hotel, property and estates. No data were returned in the query for these staff earning over the amounts requested and within the organisations requested. Notes: 1. Figures in the table are provisional and experimental NHS Staff Earnings estimates, therefore figures shown are those individuals that have met the publication validations. 2. These figures represent staff paid using the Electronic Staff Record system to NHS Staff who are employed and directly paid by NHS organisations. 3. Figures are based on staff with contracted hours more than zero. Bank and locum staff that typically have no contracted hours are not included in these figures. 4. The trusts included in these figures were Cornwall and Isles of Scilly primary care trust, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust. 5. The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. 6. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. 7. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre NHS Staff Earnings Estimates.

Health Services: Medway

Mark Reckless: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the additional £6,120,000 winter pressures funding allocated to Medway will be divided among NHS organisations in Medway.

Jane Ellison: We have been informed by NHS England the funding has been allocated as follows:
	
		
			 Initial allocations £ 
			 Medway NHS Foundation Trust 2,279,510 
			 Medway Community Healthcare 1,214,110 
			 Medway Council 1,152,000 
			 Kent Community Health NHS Trust 750,000 
			 Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust 220,050 
			 NHS Kent and Medway Commissioning Support Unit 180,000 
			 South East Coast Ambulance Services NHS Foundation Trust 148,130 
			 Voluntary Organisation 100,000 
			 Kent County Council 50,000 
			 Swale General Practitioners 26,000 
			 Total 6,119,800 
			 Note: All projects are being monitored constantly and reviewed to ensure targeting to areas of greatest need and this could see a shift of funding between organisations. Source: NHS England

Heart Diseases

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to reduce heart disease in England since May 2010.

Jane Ellison: The Government has an ambitious programme to improve public health through strengthening local action, behavioural changes and promoting healthy choices, and changing the environment to. support healthier lives.
	We know that heart disease could be avoided by improving lifestyles. Our programme includes national ambitions to reduce smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and harmful use of alcohol, all with appropriate metrics included in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. Published strategy documents have set out actions, at the national level that augment or support local delivery. These include:
	prevention/early intervention initiatives including the mandatory National Child Measurement programme, and NHS Health Checks;
	supporting local authorities to provide evidence-based smoking cessation, weight management, drug and alcohol treatment services;
	social marketing campaigns e.g. Change4Life, “Stoptober”;
	working with industry through the Responsibility Deal on food, alcohol, physical activity, and health at work; and
	taking central Government action where industry and individuals cannot act alone.
	Local action is being supported by Public Health England as the expert agency responsible for protecting and improving health.

Heart Diseases and Cancer

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make an assessment of the efficacy of the Ornish medicare lifestyle programme used in the US to tackle heart disease and cancer.

Jane Ellison: Reducing mortality and improving outcomes for people with heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in England is a key priority for this Government. In March 2013; we published the CVD Outcomes Strategy. The strategy sets out key actions for commissioners and providers to improve outcomes in CVD. NHS Improving Quality is supporting the delivery of the strategy by NHS England.
	NHS England works to improve the quality of NHS services and is held to account through the Mandate. The indicator “Under 75 mortality fate from all cardiovascular diseases” is included in both the Public Health and NHS Outcome Frameworks and the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set.
	It is for NHS England to decide which healthcare programmes and initiatives it wishes to assess and consider.

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance (a) his Department and (b) Public Health England is providing on (i) hepatitis B and (ii) hepatitis C to directors of public health in local authorities; if he will place in the Library copies of such guidance; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) produces guidance documents to support directors of public health in local authorities and others involved in the prevention and control of hepatitis B and C. These include:
	(1) ‘Standards for the local surveillance and follow up of hepatitis B and C’1.
	(2) A “frequently asked questions on hepatitis document” has been produced for local government by Local Government Association and PHE to address questions that directors of public health and councillors may have on hepatitis and the viruses that cause it2.
	Local PHE health protection teams also assist directors of public health in local authorities in performing their public health functions.
	Copies of these guidelines have been placed in the Library.
	1Health protection Agency. Standards for the local surveillance and follow up of hepatitis B and C. 2011
	www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1194947376936
	2Local Government Association/Public Health England Hepatitis, Frequently asked questions. Briefing for councillors. 2013
	http://www.local.gov.uk/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=f0e5b7b9-c32e-4c8e-a005-b5c4e87b0126&groupId=10180

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials in his Department have had with the Hepatitis B Positive Trust and the Hepatitis B Foundation; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: There have been no discussions between departmental Ministers or officials, and either the Hepatitis B Positive Trust or the Hepatitis B Foundation, in the last 12 months.

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children were vaccinated against hepatitis B in each primary care trust area in each of the last three years.

Jane Ellison: Vaccine coverage data for 2010-11, 2011-12, and 2012-13 are presented in Tables A1 and A2 (one set per year) and have been placed in the Library. The data represent reported coverage by trust for three doses of hepatitis B vaccine in those infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive mothers who reached the age of one year, and coverage by trust of four doses of vaccine in infants who reached two years of age in the years 2010-11, 2011-12, and 2012-13 respectively.
	A large number of Trusts reported that they were unable to supply some or all of the data required on infants born to hepatitis B positive mothers. Some figures in the tables provided have been suppressed due to potential disclosure issues associated with small numbers (indicated by *). The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) state that it would be inadvisable to draw conclusions from these data and no national or regional data have been published.

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support his Department provides to the Hepatitis B (a) Helpline and (b) Forum; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The Department does not currently provide any financial support to the Hepatitis B Helpline and Forum. However, the Department did provide the Hepatitis B Foundation with a grant of £38,169 in 2008-09, to contribute towards the cost of their helpline for the financial years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of prisoners in England received a full course of the hepatitis B vaccine in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011, (e) 2012 and (f) 2013 to date.

Jane Ellison: The prison health performance quality indicators (PHPQI) record data on the number of prisoners who were vaccinated against hepatitis B, either before or within one month of reception into prison. Incomplete reporting mean that these data probably under-represent the total number of prisoners receiving a full course of vaccine. Public Health England's Health and Justice Team collates these data centrally.
	The number of prisoners receiving the full course of Hepatitis B vaccine and the percentage of prisoners this represents as reported in the PHPQI dataset for each year are as follows:
	2008: 66,759 prisoners fully vaccinated, representing 37% of total prison population;
	2009: 60, 869 prisoners fully vaccinated, representing 40% of total prison population;
	2010-11: 143,774 prisoners fully vaccinated, representing 57% of total prison population;
	2011-12: 107,282 prisoners fully vaccinated, representing 57% of total prison population;
	2012-13: 111,497 prisoners fully vaccinated, representing 57% of total prison population; and
	Q1 2013-14: 29,008 prisoners fully vaccinated, representing 55% of total prison population.

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of prisoners in England received a hepatitis B test in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011, (e) 2012 and (f) 2013 to date.

Jane Ellison: We do not have data on the total number of prisoners in England tested for hepatitis B virus infection. The reasons for this are that not all tests performed on serving prisoners are identified and the information is not collected centrally.
	Public Health England does have a sentinel surveillance system which is used to monitor trends in blood-borne virus testing in 24 participating laboratories receiving samples from prisons across England. The reports from these laboratories do not represent the totality of testing conducted on prisoners throughout the prison estate but rather are used to identify changes in the level of testing for Hepatitis B (and Hepatitis C) virus infection among prisons covered by the participating laboratories. These data show that:
	2008: 2,415 prisoners were tested (estimated 1.5% coverage)
	2009: 2,992 prisoners were tested (estimated 1.8% coverage)
	2010: 2,860 prisoners were tested (estimated 1.7% coverage)
	2011: 3,463 prisoners were tested (estimated 2.0% coverage)
	2012: 3,441 prisoners were tested (estimated 2.0% coverage).
	We do not yet have data for 2013.

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the availability of treatments for hepatitis B and C in (a) Essex, (b) London and (c) England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave on 5 December 2013, Official Report, column 796W, the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma).

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made by age group of the number of (a) males and (b) females who are infected with hepatitis B.

Jane Ellison: National surveillance of acute hepatitis B infection is carried out by Public Health England (PHE).
	The most recent estimate was published in 2012 and comparable data have been collected since 2008.
	Tables 1-5 show the age/sex breakdown of newly confirmed acute cases of hepatitis B from 2008-12, reported from laboratories and combined with epidemiological data collected and reported from PHE Centres.
	
		
			 Table 1: Age and sex breakdown of acute hepatitis B reports for England, 2008 
			 Age group Female Male Not known Total 
			 Under 15 years 5 5 0 10 
			 15-24 years 50 51 3 104 
			 25-34 years 54 86 3 143 
			 35-44 years 36 118 4 158 
			 45-54 years 20 71 1 92 
			 55-64 years 9 49 0 58 
			 65 years or over 12 22 1 35 
			 Not known 3 14 3 20 
			 Total 189 416 15 620 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Age and sex breakdown of acute hepatitis B reports for England, 2009 
			 Age group Female Male Not known Total 
			 Under 15 years 4 3 1 8 
			 15-24 years 36 63 15 114 
			 25-34 years 48 87 23 158 
			 35-44 years 29 90 12 131 
			 45-54 years 22 73 14 109 
			 55-64 years 10 25 5 40 
			 65 years or over 8 16 3 27 
			 Not known 3 6 1 10 
			 Total 160 363 74 597 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Age and sex breakdown of acute hepatitis B reports for England, 2010 
			 Age group Female Male Not known Total 
			 Under 15 years 4 8 0 12 
		
	
	
		
			 15-24 years 47 59 0 106 
			 25-34 years 51 71 0 122 
			 35-44 years 24 89 0 113 
			 45-54 years 18 59 0 77 
			 55-64 years 9 41 0 50 
			 65 years or over 8 24 0 32 
			 Not known 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 161 351 0 512 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 4: Age and sex breakdown of acute hepatitis B reports for England, 2011 
			 Age group Female Male Not known Total 
			 Under 15 years 0 2 0 2 
			 15-24 years 39 55 0 94 
			 25-34 years 47 109 0 156 
			 35-44 years 49 96 0 145 
			 45-54 years 14 85 0 99 
			 55-64 years 12 47 0 59 
			 65 years or over 8 26 0 34 
			 Not known 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 169 420 0 589 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 5: Age and sex breakdown of acute hepatitis B reports for England, 2012 
			 Age group Female Male Not known Total 
			 Under 15 years 7 6 0 13 
			 15-24 years 40 32 0 72 
			 25-34 years 43 82 0 125 
			 35-44 years 38 99 2 139 
			 45-54 years . 21 81 0 102 
			 55-64 years 16 46 0 62 
			 65 years or over 8 33 0 41 
			 Not known 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 173 379 2 554

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of prisoners in England received a full course of the hepatitis C vaccine in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011, (e) 2012 and (f) 2013 to date.

Jane Ellison: There is no vaccine to prevent infection with the hepatitis C virus.

Hepatitis

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to increase the number of people screened for (a) hepatitis B and (b) hepatitis C; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) has contributed to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on hepatitis B and C1, and guidance on hepatitis B antenatal screening and newborn immunisation programme2, both of which make recommendations to increase uptake of testing.
	PHE leads or collaborates on research projects to pilot models and develop best practice in contact tracing and management of dose contacts of hepatitis B individuals (mainly pregnant women identified through antenatal screening), and improved screening of patients for hepatitis B and C in primary care.
	PHE has developed novel testing methods to improve point of care testing for hepatitis B and C in community settings, such as dried blood spot and oral fluid testing.
	PHE offers a national dried blood spot testing service for infants born to mothers infected with hepatitis B as part of an initiative to improve testing for chronic hepatitis at 12 months of age.
	PHE works collaboratively with NHS and non-governmental organisations to advocate for increased uptake of screening for hepatitis B and C.
	1 Hepatitis B and C: ways to promote and offer testing to people at increased risk of infection; Issued: December 2012 last modified: March 2013
	NICE public health guidance 43.
	http://publications.nice.org.uk/hepatitis-b-and-c-ways-to-promote-and-offer-testing-to-people-at-increased-risk-of-infection-ph43/considerations
	2 Department of Health. Hepatitis B antenatal screening and newborn immunisation programme:
	Best practice guidance 2011
	www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/215622/dh_132637.pdf

Human Papillomavirus

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the sub-committee on adolescent vaccinations of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to report on extending the HPV vaccine to all adolescent boys and men who have sex with men.

Jane Ellison: On 2 October 2013 the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) agreed to the formation of an HPV sub-committee to consider the impact and cost-effectiveness of changes to the routine HPV vaccination schedule, including the vaccination of men who have sex with men and adolescent boys. The HPV sub-committee will report its findings to JCVI following consideration of a yet to be completed study by Public Health England into the cost-effectiveness of extending HPV vaccination to men who have sex with men or adolescent boys. This study is expected to be completed in 2014 at the earliest.

Mesothelioma

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the sustainability of funding for research into the causes of and potential cures for mesothelioma.

Jane Ellison: Total spend in future years by the Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on research into mesothelioma depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity. The usual practice of the NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mesothelioma. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the scientific quality of the proposals made.
	In 2012-13, the NIHR spent £0.2 million on research on mesothelioma through its programmes and centres. Total spend was higher than this because expenditure by the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) on this topic cannot be disaggregated from total CRN expenditure. The CRN is currently recruiting patients to eight studies in mesothelioma.
	In addition, in 2012-13 the Medical Research Council spent £2.1 million on research directly related to mesothelioma.
	The issue holding back progress on research into mesothelioma is not lack of funding but the lack of sufficient high-quality research applications. With its partners the Department is therefore pursuing a package of measures we believe will stimulate an increase in the level of mesothelioma research. This package has four particular elements:
	a partnership bringing together patients, carers and clinicians to identify priorities for mesothelioma research;
	in conjunction with this priority setting partnership; the NIHR will highlight to the research community that it wishes to encourage research applications in this area;
	the NIHR's research design service will be available to help prospective applicants develop competitive research proposals; and
	leading researchers will convene to discuss and develop new proposals for studies.

NHS Property Services

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what Gateway reviews have been carried out on projects managed by NHS Property Services Ltd.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has not carried out any Gateway reviews on programmes or projects managed by NHS Property Services Ltd.

NHS: Foreign Workers

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of non-EEA migrant workers currently employed within the NHS.

Daniel Poulter: The number of non-European economic area migrant workers currently employed within the national health service is not collected centrally.
	Data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre workforce census as at 30 September 2012 shows that 34,043 Hospital and Community and Health Service doctors and general practitioners qualified outside the European economic area (EEA). Data on other healthcare professionals qualified outside the EEA and employed within the NHS is not available.

Nurses

Glyn Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many agency nurses work in the NHS; and what the average cost of an (a) agency-employed nurse and (b) directly-employed nurse is in the NHS.

Daniel Poulter: The employment of nurses on either a permanent or temporary basis is a matter for individual trusts. The Department does not collect data about the numbers of agency nurses working in the national health service nor the average cost of an agency employed nurse. The average cost of a directly employed nurse in the NHS is £42,000 per full-time equivalent in 2012-13.

Pharmacy

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is his policy to encourage the use by the NHS of pharmacies owned by GPs rather than those owned by professional pharmacists.

Norman Lamb: Government policy does not encourage, or differentiate between; particular business sectors owning national health service community pharmacies. It is for NHS England to commission NHS pharmaceutical services according to the needs of local populations.

Pharmacy

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued to NHS bodies on the need to conduct a proper market tender before entering into a commercial lease for a pharmacy.

Daniel Poulter: General guidance only has been given to national health service organisations on managing their land and property rather than for specific uses such as a pharmacy. This is provided in the Department's publication “Health Building Note 00-08: Estatecode”.
	A copy of this publication has already been placed in the Library.

Pharmacy: Training

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funds Health Education England has distributed to local education and training boards for education and training of pharmacists since April 2013.

Daniel Poulter: Health Education England (HEE) provides funding to the local education and training boards (LETBs) to manage the education and training of healthcare staff within their area.
	HEE does not allocate a specific amount of funding for the education and training of pharmacists because LETBs set their local investment priorities, working with the providers in their area. LETBs are required to fund the agreed number of pre-registration pharmacy posts within their area.

Plastic Surgery

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abdominoplasty operations were undertaken in each primary care trust area in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison: The following table shows a count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a primary or secondary operative procedure of abdominoplasty, arranged by primary care trust area in each of the last three years:
	
		
			 FCEs 
			 PCT name 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT 1 1 1 
			 Barnet PCT 0 1 0 
			 Barnsley PCT 0 1 0 
			 Bath and North East Somerset PCT 0 2 3 
			 Bedfordshire PCT 0 1 1 
			 Berkshire East PCT 9 7 11 
			 Berkshire West PCT 2 1 0 
			 Bexley Care Trust 1 2 4 
			 Birmingham East and North PCT 0 3 4 
			 Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus 1 0 0 
			 Blackpool PCT 1 0 1 
			 Bolton PCT 3 1 2 
			 Bournemouth and Poole Teaching PCT 2 0 2 
			 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 14 16 19 
			 Brent Teaching PCT 6 5 6 
			 Brighton and Hove City PCT 0 0 1 
			 Bristol PCT 1 0 0 
			 Buckinghamshire PCT 7 8 4 
			 Cambridgeshire PCT 39 26 15 
			 Camden PCT 88 64 44 
			 Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT 0 2 0 
			 Central Lancashire PCT 37 35 22 
			 City and Hackney Teaching PCT 1 1 0 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT 0 4 1 
			 Coventry Teaching PCT 7 10 8 
			 Cumbria Teaching PCT 1 1 2 
			 Darlington PCT 63 60 58 
			 Derby City PCT 1 0 0 
			 Devon PCT 11 12 12 
			 Dorset PCT 1 0 1 
			 Dudley PCT 32 7 12 
			 Ealing PCT 2 0 0 
			 Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT 9 3 6 
		
	
	
		
			 Gateshead PCT 3 2 3 
			 Gloucestershire PCT 1 0 1 
			 Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT 1 0 0 
			 Hampshire PCT 0 0 1 
			 Harrow PCT 0 0 1 
			 Hartlepool PCT 7 1 6 
			 Hastings and Rother PCT 0 4 1 
			 Havering PCT 0 0 2 
			 Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT 37 27 18 
			 Hertfordshire PCT 32 18 10 
			 Hillingdon PCT 0 1 0 
			 Hounslow PCT 1 1 2 
			 Hull Teaching PCT 22 7 13 
			 Islington PCT 2 0 1 
			 Kensington and Chelsea PCT 25 20 25 
			 Knowsley PCT 66 37 47 
			 Lambeth PCT 0 0 1 
			 Leeds PCT 5 28 21 
			 Leicester City PCT 32 16 13 
			 Lincolnshire Teaching PCT 3 1 2 
			 Liverpool PCT 17 13 18 
			 Luton PCT 0 0 3 
			 Manchester PCT 26 23 23 
			 Medway PCT 1 1 1 
			 Middlesbrough PCT 16 17 7 
			 Mid Essex PCT 38 30 32 
			 Newcastle PCT 52 41 37 
			 Norfolk PCT 17 6 11 
			 Northamptonshire Teaching PCT 3 3 7 
			 North East Essex PCT 1 0 1 
			 North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus 5 1 2 
			 North Somerset PCT 1 0 1 
			 North Tyneside PCT 11 13 11 
			 North Yorkshire and York PCT 0 0 2 
			 Nottingham City PCT 7 10 3 
			 Oxfordshire PCT 17 10 9 
			 Peterborough PCT 0 1 0 
			 Plymouth Teaching PCT 13 13 9 
			 Portsmouth City Teaching PCT 18 16 15 
			 Redbridge PCT 0 1 0 
			 Rotherham PCT 0 1 2 
			 Salford PCT 1 1 0 
			 Sheffield PCT 55 42 35 
			 Somerset PCT 1 0 2 
			 Southampton City PCT 3 3 4 
			 South Birmingham PCT 84 83 52 
			 South East Essex PCT 7 4 5 
			 South Gloucestershire PCT 25 16 15 
			 South Staffordshire PCT 2 1 0 
			 Southwark PCT 15 19 25 
			 South West Essex PCT 2 1 0 
			 Stoke on Trent PCT 21 11 10 
			 Suffolk PCT 9 3 1 
			 Sunderland Teaching PCT 1 0 1 
			 Surrey PCT 1 1 5 
			 Swindon PCT 1 2 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Tameside and Glossop PCT 0 1 0 
			 Torbay Care Trust 0 0 1 
			 Tower Hamlets PCT 19 11 9 
			 Wakefield District PCT 24 30 26 
			 Walsall Teaching PCT 0 0 1 
			 Waltham Forest PCT 0 1 0 
			 Wandsworth PCT 38 29 19 
			 Warrington PCT 1 0 0 
			 Western Cheshire PCT 18 13 13 
			 West Essex PCT 0 0 1 
			 West Kent PCT 0 4 11 
			 Westminster PCT 30 30 26 
			 West Sussex PCT 21 13 10 
			 Wiltshire PCT 34 27 21 
			 Wolverhampton City PCT 0 2 4 
			 Worcestershire PCT 2 1 0 
			 Note: These figures should not be described as a one episode of care within the same stay in count of people as the same person may have more than hospital or in different stays in the same year.

School Milk

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department plans to respond to its consultation entitled, Making the Nursery Milk Scheme more cost-effective.

Daniel Poulter: The Department is conducting a comprehensive analysis of all the responses to the Nursery Milk consultation, the impact assessment and the accompanying survey of child care providers. A Government response on the future operation of the Nursery Milk Scheme will be provided after full consideration is given to these and other relevant information.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

India

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made on initiatives to support agriculture in the State of Bihar in India.

Alan Duncan: During the Secretary of State's visit to India last year, the Government of Bihar requested technical assistance for the implementation of its Agricultural Roadmap. We have designed a programme to help link poor farmers to markets, and attract investment for agriculture. The details are now being finalised with Indian partners, and we hope to start implementing the programme soon.

Internet

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether access to any websites or domains is blocked from computers in her Department; and if she will publish a list of all such websites and domains to which access is prohibited.

Alan Duncan: DFID can neither confirm nor deny whether websites or domains are blocked as this could provide information useful to those wishing to harm IT systems.

Military Stabilisation Support Group

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 3 December 2013, Official Report, column 623W, on armed forces: deployment, whether (a) she or (b) other Ministers in her Department plan to visit the Military Stabilisation and Support Group.

Justine Greening: I am aware of the excellent work the group does with DFID and the Stabilisation Unit in supporting stabilisation and crisis response and of the frequent working contacts between the group and officials, and will visit when the opportunity arises.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in her Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Alan Duncan: DFID answers to parliamentary questions are a matter of public record.

JUSTICE

Common Purpose

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department paid to Common Purpose in each of the last five years; for what purpose such expenditure was incurred; and what the outcome of the expenditure was.

Jeremy Wright: The amount paid by the Ministry of Justice to Common Purpose in each of the last five financial years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 £ 
			  National Offender Management Service Ministry of Justice 
			 2008-09 37,325 3,500 
			 2009-10 50,050 6,000 
			 2010-11 35,287 0 
			 2011-12 28,600 0 
			 2012-13 17,500 0 
			 Total 168,762 9,500 
		
	
	Most of the Ministry's use of the Common Purpose programme has been for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The purpose of the programme is to provide opportunities for managers from a variety of business and third sector organisations to meet, and to develop their skills in multi-agency working and problem solving.
	NOMS has no plans to make any further bookings and the contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of March.

Community Orders: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the cost of his Department's contract with Serco for the delivery of community payback in London has been since it began;
	(2)  what the cost to the public purse of his Department's contract with Serco for the delivery of community payback in London will be in (a) each year of the contract and (b) total.

Jeremy Wright: The contract with Serco to deliver community payback in London began on 31 October 2012. Spend in the first year of operation (to 30 October 2013) was £12.007 million. The projected spend for each future year is commercially confidential. The total value of the contract is £36.720 million.

Glasgow

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority plan to remain in their current location at Tay House, Glasgow.

Damian Green: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) currently occupies two floors in Tay House, the lease for which is due for renewal in September 2014. CICA have already investigated options that strike a balance between maintaining continuity for their staff and value for money for the taxpayer but no decision has yet been made.

Human Trafficking

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether aftercare providers under his Department's contract supporting victims of trafficking require a data subject access request before releasing information from a victim's file in order for other organisations outside the contract to provide assistance to the victim.

Damian Green: Under the terms of their contract with the Ministry of Justice, the Salvation Army and their sub-contractors work closely with a range of other partners to support all victims to secure appropriate support. Victims can be referred to other services without the need for providers to submit a Subject Access Request and this is working well.
	The contract is aimed at helping some of the most vulnerable people in society and therefore protecting their safety and security is our primary concern. Personal data relating to victims supported by the Salvation Army and its sub-contractors are handled in line with the provisions of the Data Protection Act.
	Given its sensitive nature, the Ministry of Justice's contract with the Salvation Army contains a standard clause to ensure victims' personal data (their case files) are not divulged to any third party unless this has been directed in writing by the Department. This is to help protect vulnerable people from being put at risk.
	Where other organisations have requested access to a victim's case file, the Salvation Army is contractually obliged to notify the Ministry of Justice who will consider it as a formal Subject Access Request.

Insurance Companies: Data Protection

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure that insurance companies respect data protection rules and do not pass on the personal details of claimants to third parties.

Damian Green: The Government takes both the protection of personal data and the right to privacy extremely seriously. All data controllers, including insurance companies are expected to comply with the data processing principles set out under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).
	The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the independent body responsible for regulating and enforcing the DPA. The ICO has a wide range of powers to ensure compliance with the DPA.

Prison Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what amount has been spent on equality and diversity posts in prison in each of the last three years.

Jeremy Wright: These figures are not held centrally and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost. It would involve contacting every prison and asking them to explore the staff involved, their grades and length of time they were in post, over the three year period requested. The prisons would then have to cost each individual finding before returning the figures to Headquarters to be collated and totalled.

Prisoners: Risk Assessment

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what system is used for assessing prisoner risk assessments;
	(2)  what the outcomes were of all prisoner risk assessments in 2012;
	(3)  who is responsible for undertaking prisoner risk assessments.

Jeremy Wright: All prisons are required to conduct assessments of prisoners during their time in custody. On entry to the prison, the assessment processes set out in Prison Service Instruction 74/2011; Early Days in Custody—Reception In, First Night in Custody, and Induction to Custody must be followed. This would include an assessment of the prisoner's physical and mental health and their risk of self-harm. A Cell Sharing Risk Assessment is also undertaken, which determines the prisoner's risk of killing or seriously assaulting a cell mate. Appropriately trained staff are responsible for undertaking prisoner risk assessments.
	For prisoners that meet the criteria for MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) the lead agency Offender Manager will ensure a comprehensive risk assessment is completed, taking advantage of coordinated information sharing across the agencies. The assessment tool that would be used for this assessment would be OASys which is used by the National Offender Management Service. This risk assessment would be reviewed six months prior to any potential release. It is not possible to provide details of all prisoner risk assessments conducted in 2012 as this information is not held centrally and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.

Probation

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department, when commissioning probation services from the private sector, will (a) evaluate and (b) monitor contractor performance; and what penalties will be incurred if agreed performance targets are not met.

Jeremy Wright: The reformed system will be regulated and held to account through a combination of independent inspection, audit and commercial account management by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).
	The independent Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation will inspect services delivered by both the National Probation Service and contracted sectors. The new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) will be contractually obliged to develop their own internal audit processes and share these with NOMS. NOMS will have the right to audit CRC delivery, and the CRC contracts will also allow the National Audit Office to access CRC's financial systems where public assurance is needed.
	Providers will need to engage with statutory and non-statutory partnerships and the NOMS account management function will monitor local partnership working as part of its role in obtaining assurance of the delivery of services, liaising with police and crime commissioners (PCCs) and other relevant partners as necessary.
	We will reward providers who are successful in reducing reoffending and penalise those who underperform. We are developing a detailed performance mechanism now, in tandem with finalising the contractual requirements which will be placed on providers. We will have a range of performance measures to ensure that services are delivered to the appropriate quality.

Wrexham Prison

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many employees are planned for Wrexham Prison; and what their job description and salaries will be;
	(2)  on what basis he will decide whether Wrexham Prison will be run in the public or private sector;
	(3)  on what basis he will decide which inmates are held at Wrexham Prison.

Jeremy Wright: No decisions have been made on whether the proposed prison in Wrexham will be operated by the public or private sector. Should the operation of the prison be competed, a decision on the operator will be made based on a number of factors including value for money for the taxpayer, safety, security and decency.
	Final decisions on the staffing profile and salaries are dependent on the operator but we estimate that between 800 and 1,100 jobs will be created directly at the prison. The variety of jobs created are likely to include management, administrative and support posts, prison officers, instructional officers, healthcare workers, psychologists, chaplains and industrial posts.
	In the management of the prison population the aim is always to hold prisoners in establishments that provide the level of security required, are suitable for their gender, age and legal status, provide special facilities appropriate to prisoner needs, are near to their homes or the courts dealing with their cases and provide opportunities to engage with resettlement services before release.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Directors

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of her Department's (a) executive and (b) non-executive board members are identified as (i) white British and (ii) of black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups.

Theresa Villiers: My Department does not keep ethnic background information for its executive board members who are all civil servants. However, I can inform you that the Department's non-executive board member has indicated 'white' as their ethnicity.

Internet

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether access to any websites or domains is blocked from computers in her Department; and if she will publish a list of all such websites and domains to which access is prohibited.

Theresa Villiers: My Department receives managed ICT services via a service level agreement with IT Assist Confidential (ITAC), a service provided by Enterprise Shared Services, Department of Finance and Personnel, Northern Ireland. Websites and domains are blocked automatically by ITAC's website filtering software. Details of prohibited websites are not held by my Department but cover a wide range of categories including adult content, social media sites, blogs, internet email and gambling sites.

Police

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions she has had with the Police Federation about the health and well-being of serving and former police officers in Northern Ireland.

Theresa Villiers: I last met Terry Spence QPM, Chairman of the Police Federation, on 9 September 2013 to discuss various issues.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in her Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Theresa Villiers: My Department's answers to parliamentary questions are a matter of public record and can be found in the Official Report.

Taxation

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what meetings she has had with the Chancellor the Exchequer about (a) corporation tax and (b) air passenger duty in the last six months.

Theresa Villiers: I meet regularly with the Chancellor and other HM Treasury Ministers on a range of economic issues including corporation tax and air passenger duty.

TREASURY

Immigration

George Galloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make an estimate of the net cost or benefit to the public purse of taxation of and spending on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants in the last year for which figures are available.

Nicky Morgan: There is no reliable way of estimating the historical fiscal impact to the UK Government of Bulgarian and Romanian migrants.

Nuclear Power Stations

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what criteria were set for the Wylfa B nuclear plant development to qualify for the Government's investment guarantee for that plant.

Danny Alexander: The Government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Horizon and Hitachi with the aim of being able to agree an in-principle UK guarantee by the end of 2016. This will be subject to final due diligence and ministerial approval.

Personal Savings: Interest Rates

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will require banks to simplify savings account interest rate deals.

Sajid Javid: The Government strongly supports the principle of transparency in financial products, it welcomes the progress being made by the industry-led Simple Products initiative, which includes development of simple cash savings products with no introductory bonus rates.
	The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is currently investigating whether the cash savings market is sufficiently competitive to work in the best interests of consumers. This study will look at the market for interest-bearing cash savings accounts, including the effect on competition of time-limited bonus rates. The FCA will consider whether it needs to take action as a result of its findings.

Taxation: North Sea Oil

George Galloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will commission a study to calculate the difference in tax income there would have been over the last five, 10 and 15 years to his Department if the UK had had the same tax regime for North Sea oil as (a) Norway and (b) Denmark.

Nicky Morgan: The Government has no plans to commission such a study. The UK’s oil and gas fiscal regime is designed to maximise the economic recovery of the country’s oil and gas reserves while ensuring a fair return for the taxpayer. The Government keeps the regime under review to ensure it is achieving these objectives, including how it compares internationally. The tax regime is currently supporting record levels of investment in the North sea—expected to reach £14 billion this year alone—generating jobs and growth across the UK.

Welfare Tax Credits

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree, of 9 January 2013, Official Report, column 317W, on welfare tax credits, what proportion of calls made to the tax credit helpline were made through the (a) 0345 and (b) 0845 code in the last year.

Nicky Morgan: In the 12 months ending 30 November 2013, the percentage of calls made to the Tax Credit helpline 0345 number was 83% and 17% to the 0845 number.
	The Tax Credits Helpline migrated from the 0845 to 03 number on 8 December 2011. Between April and September 2013, HMRC also introduced alternative 03 numbers to all of its remaining customer facing 0845 lines making the service cheaper for most customers. They cost the same as those to 01 and 02 numbers.

Welfare Tax Credits

Andrew Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will take steps to restore HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) powers to extend the 30-day time limit for making an appeal against a tax credit decision following the decision of the Upper Tribunal in JI v Commissioners for HMRC;
	(2)  if he will take steps to ensure claimants who make a late appeal for tax credits are not disadvantaged following the Upper Tribunal's decision in JI v Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs.

Nicky Morgan: Legislation will be introduced to restore HM Revenue and Customs' power to accept late tax credit appeals. It is expected that amended regulations will be tabled early in the new year. Pending the introduction of the amending legislation HMRC will continue to accept late appeals under their care and management powers.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in the Government Equalities Office's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Helen Grant: The Government Equalities Office used the word 'poverty' in one of its parliamentary responses in the 2012-13 Session—12 December 2012, Official Report, column 314W, and none in the 2011-12 Session.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Cold Weather Payments

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the criteria are to trigger cold weather payments; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The scheme runs from 1 November to 31 March each winter. A payment is made to all recipients of pension credit when the average temperature is recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0°C or below over seven consecutive days. Recipients of income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance are also eligible for such payment if they are in receipt of a pensioner or disability premium as part of their assessment. Income-related employment support allowance recipients are also eligible if they are also in receipt of the support component, the work-related activity component, a severe or enhanced disability premium, or a pensioner premium. Working age recipients who have a disabled child or a child aged less than five years in the family are also eligible.
	From April 2013 those in receipt of universal credit have also been eligible for a cold weather payment if they are not employed or self-employed and:
	1. they or their partner receive either a limited capability for work element or a limited capability for work element with a work related activity element;
	2. they receive a disabled child element within their assessment; or
	3. they have a child under the age of 5 years in the family.
	An exception to these criteria so that universal credit recipients who are employed or self-employed will be eligible for cold weather payments if they have a disabled child in the family.
	Payments are usually issued automatically, without the need to make a claim.

Construction: Safety

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to improve safety standards and reduce fatalities in medium and smaller scale construction projects; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The Construction Division of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has a specific programme of work designed to improve the standards of both health and safety on smaller construction projects. This includes proactive inspection of higher risk, smaller, construction projects. Additionally HSE works with the construction industry to deliver free or low-cost safety and health awareness events and provides a wide range of straightforward guidance aimed at small construction businesses. HSE is also currently revising the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and associated guidance with the support of the Construction Industry Advisory Committee to simplify the requirements and make it easier for small construction businesses to understand and comply with their responsibilities to manage the risks they create.

Construction: Safety

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many serious accidents and fatalities occurred on construction sites in (a) 2012 and (b)  2013 to date; and what proportion of such accidents were on medium to smaller scale projects.

Michael Penning: The numbers of fatal and serious non-fatal injuries arising from construction work reported to the Health and Safety Executive in the periods April 2012 to March 2013 and April 2013 to September 2013 are presented in the following table:
	
		
			  April 2012-March 2013 April 2013-September 2013 
			 Non-fatal major injuries 2,496 1,378 
			 Fatal injuries (workers) 39 119 
			 Fatal injuries (members of the public) 5 11 
			 1 Number of fatal injuries for April 2013 to September 2013 (Q1 andQ2) will be published on the HSE website on 19 December 2013. Before release they will undergo further routine checks and may differ slightly from the unverified figures provided here. 
		
	
	Information regarding the size of construction project for non-fatal injuries is not collected. For fatal injuries, HSE records whether the number of workers on site was 15 or fewer, or more than 15. In the period April 2012-March 2013 the proportion of fatal injuries occurring on sites with 15 or fewer workers was 79%. Between April 2013 and September 2013 the proportion was 80%. Reliable data is not yet available after September 2013. All figures are provisional and subject to future amendment.

Directors

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of his Department's (a) executive and (b) non-executive board members are identified as (i) white British and (ii) of black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups.

Michael Penning: The Department monitors the ethnic diversity of its boards. However, racial or ethnic identify is not self-evident and is sensitive personal data. Therefore, given the small numbers involved we could not disclose the results of our monitoring without infringing the rights of the individuals concerned.

Employment Services

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment has he made of the feasibility of introducing a jobseeker classification instrument in the UK similar to that used in Australia; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave to his previous question number 179529, on 3 December 2013, Official Report,column 658W.
	The Department tested a classification instrument very similar to the Australian model in 2010-11.
	A full report describing this work is available from the gov.uk website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210303/WP116.pdf
	The level of accuracy achieved by the model was better than in previous similar exercises but was not strong enough for the Department to be confident that it would be operationally effective.

Housing Benefit

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the proportion of the total discretionary housing budget that has been spent during the last six months of 2012-13.

Steve Webb: We do not hold information on the proportion of the total discretionary housing budget spent by local authorities in the last six months of 2012-13.
	From April 2013, the Department has collected six-monthly returns detailing DHP awards in each local authority. This includes the number of awards granted, but not the number of people granted an award. We are currently performing the necessary quality assurance checks on this data.
	This year the Government contribution to Discretionary Housing Payments has been increased to £180 million. As part of this, local authorities are able to bid for funding from a £20 million reserve fund. The scheme is open to bids until 3 February 2014.

Internet

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether access to any websites or domains is blocked from computers in his Department; and if he will publish a list of all such websites and domains to which access is prohibited.

Michael Penning: The Department for Work and Pensions uses internet filtering facilities, provided by one of its IT suppliers, to protect its computer network and staff from accessing the following types of websites.
	The list of blocked website categories is as follows:
	Adult/Sexually Explicit
	Chat
	Criminal Activity
	Downloads
	Gambling
	Games
	Hacking
	Illegal Drugs
	Intolerance and Hate
	Peer-to-peer
	Personals and Dating
	Phishing and Fraud
	Proxies and translators
	Ringtones/Mobile phone downloads
	Spam URLs
	Spyware
	Streaming media
	Tasteless and Offensive
	Unscannable
	Violence
	Weapons
	Web-based e-mail

Jobcentre Plus

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the ratio of Jobcentre Plus advisers to jobseeker allowance customers was in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011, (e) 2012 and (f) 2013 to date.

Esther McVey: The following table shows the ratio of Jobcentre Plus advisers to jobseeker allowance customers from 2008-09 to May 2013, the latest data available.
	
		
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 May 2013 
			 Advisers (FTE) 9,425 11,972 11,972 11,998 13,193 13,031 
			 JSA Live load 1,421,600 1,526,000 1,438,670 1,589,640 1,514,370 1,371,620 
			 Ratio 1:151 1:127 1:120 1:132 1:115 1:105 
			 Notes: 1. The adviser figures relates to all adviser activity, not just advice provided to jobseeker’s allowance claimants. The figures are the average FTE deployed in each period on all adviser activities. 2. The increase in FTE from 2009-10 was to deal with additional work due to the economic downturn. 3. The JSA Liveload is taken from the DWP Information, Governance and Security Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. 
		
	
	It is worth stating that DWP is increasing the opportunities for people to access services digitally, so that more people are able to meet their needs via self-service rather than visiting jobcentres.

Mesothelioma

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent representations he has received from (a) individuals and (b) organisations on compensation for sufferers of asbestos-related mesothelioma.

Michael Penning: The Minister for Disabled People met with representatives of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health on 15 October 2013 and with representatives of the Asbestos Victims Support Group on the 5 November 2013 to discuss the Mesothelioma Bill currently before Parliament.

Mesothelioma

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people who would benefit from bringing forward eligibility for the scheme for sufferers of mesothelioma from July 2012 to February 2010.

Michael Penning: It is estimated that extending the scheme to include those diagnosed from February 2010 would result in an extra 702 successful scheme applications. The increase to the levy would be £83.1 million.

Pay

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the median gross pay is of staff in his Department and its executive agencies in each pay band who are identified as (a) white British and (b) of black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups.

Michael Penning: The median gross salary of staff within the Department for Work and Pensions by ethnicity group is as follows:
	
		
			 Pay band/grade White British (£) Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups (£) 
			 AA 15,540 15,540 
			 AO 18,256 19,090 
			 EO 24,715 25,187 
			 HEO 29,674 31,273 
			 SEO 35,205 37,240 
			 Grade 7 48,162 51,330 
			 Grade 6 62,214 61,704 
			 SCSI 73,000 80,000 
			 SCS2 98,100 99,400 
		
	
	There are seven SCS3 staff and the median salary is £150,000. The Department monitors the ethnic identity of its employees. However, racial or ethnic identity is not self-evident and is sensitive personal data. Therefore, given the small numbers involved we could not disclose the SCS3 results without infringing the rights of the individuals concerned.
	There are proportionately higher numbers of Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups in the inner and outer London pay areas. Staff are paid more in these areas and this is the predominant reason for their median salaries being higher in a number of grades.
	The figures provided relate to those staff records where an ethnicity is recorded. Of the 101,297 records there are 24,385 (24%) where ethnicity is not recorded.
	The Department no longer has any executive agencies.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many times the word 'poverty' has been mentioned in his Department's parliamentary answers in Session (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Esther McVey: The content of the Official Report is a matter of public record and is readily accessible to the hon. Member online and in hard copy.

Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 23 October 2013, Official Report, columns 168-9W, on poverty, if he will publish the data on a regional basis.

Esther McVey: Data is available at a regional level for the number of individuals in households where at least one member is in work and that are in relative low income; and the percentage of individuals from households with at least one member in work that are in relative low income. Figures for regions are presented as three year averages to overcome volatility.
	Figures have been presented in three separate tables; with table 1 providing figures for the North East, North West and Merseyside, Yorkshire and Humberside, and East Midlands; table 2 provides figures for West Midlands, Eastern, London, and South East; and table 3 provides figures for the South West, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of individuals in households where at least one person is in work and that are in relative low income, and the percentage of individuals where at least one person is in work that are in relative low income, for the North East, North West and Merseyside, Yorkshire and Humberside, and East Midlands, Before Housing Costs, 1994/95-1996/97 to 2009/10-2011/12, three year averages 
			  North East North West and Merseyside Yorkshire and Humberside East Midlands 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
			 1994/95-1996/97 0.2 11 0.4 10 0.3 11 0.3 9 
			 1995/96-1997/98 0.2 12 0.4 10 0.3 11 0.3 10 
			 1996/97-1998/99 0.2 12 0.5 12 0.4 13 0.3 11 
			 1997/98-1999/00 0.2 13 0.5 12 0.4 14 0.3 11 
			 1998/99-2000/01 0.2 13 0.5 12 0.4 13 0.3 11 
			 1999/01-2001/02 0.2 12 0.5 12 0.4 12 0.3 11 
			 2000/01-2002/03 0.2 12 0.5 11 0.4 11 0.3 ¦12 
			 2001/02-2003/04 0.2 12 0.5 11 0.4 11 0.3 11 
			 2002/03-2004/05 0.2 13 0.4 10 0.4 10 0.3 10 
			 2003/04-2005/06 0.2 12 0.5 10 0.4 11 0.3 10 
			 2004/05-2006/07 0.2 12 0.5 11 0.4 11 0.3 10 
			 2005/06-2007/08 0.2 13 0.5 12 0.4 12 0.3 11 
			 2006/07-2008/09 0.2 13 0.5 11 0.4 12 0.3 11 
			 2007/08-2009/10 0.2 13 0.5 11 0.4 12 0.3 11 
			 2008/09-2010/11 0.2 11 0.5 11 0.5 13. 0.3 10 
			 2009/10-2011/12 0.2 11 0.6 12 0.5 13 0.3 10 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number of individuals in households where at least one person is in work and that are in relative low income, and the percentage of individuals where at least one person is in work that are in relative low income, for the West Midlands, Eastern, London, and South East, before housing costs, 1994/95-1996/97 to 2009/10-2011/12, three year averages 
			  West Midlands Eastern London South East 
			 Year Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
			 1994/95-1996/97 0.3 10 0.3 8 0.3 8 0.4 7 
			 1995/96-1997/98 0.4 11 0.3 9 0.4 9 0.4 7 
			 1996/97-1998/99 0.4 11 0.3 9 0.4 9 0.4 7 
			 1997/98-1999/00 0.4 11 0.3 8 0.4 9 0.4 7 
			 1998/99-2000/01 0.4 11 0.3 8 0.4 9 0.4 7 
			 1999/01-2001/02 0.4 11 0.3 7 0.4 9 0.4 7 
			 2000/01-2002/03 0.4 11 0.3 7 0.4 9 0.4 6 
			 2001/02-2003/04 0.4 11 0.3 8 0.5 9 0.4 7 
			 2002/03-2004/05 0.4 11 0.3 8 0.5 10 0.4 7 
			 2003/04-2005/06 0.4 11 0.3 8 0.6 11 0.5 8 
			 2004/05-2006/07 0.4 12 0.3 8 0.5 10 0.5 8 
			 2005/06-2007/08 0.5 13 0.3 8 0.5 10 0.5 8 
			 2006/07-2008/09 0.5 14 0.4 9 0.6 11 0.5 8 
			 2007/08-2009/10 0.5 14 0.4 10 0.6 11 0.5 7 
			 2008/09-2010/11 0.5 14 0.4 9 0.6 10 0.4 7 
			 2009/10-2011/12 0.5 13 0.4 9 0.6 10 0.5 8 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Number of individuals in households .where at least one person is in work and that are in relative low income, and the percentage of individuals where at least one person is in work that are in relative low income, for the South West, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, Before Housing Costs, 1994/95-1996/97 to 2009/10-2011/12, three year averages. 
			  South West Wales Scotland Northern Ireland 
			 Year Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
			 1994/95-1996/97 0.3 10 0.2 11 0.3 10 — — 
			 1995/96-1997/98 0.3 11 0.2 13 0.3 10 — — 
			 1996/97-1998/99 0.4 11 0.3 14 0.3 10 — — 
			 1997/98-1999/00 0.4 11 0.3 14 0.3 10 — — 
			 1998/99-2000/01 0.4 11 0.2 12 0.3 10 — — 
			 1999/01-2001/02 0.4 11 0.2 12 0.3 10 — — 
			 2000/01-2002/03 0.4 10 0.2 11 0.3 10 — — 
			 2001/02-2003/04 0.3 10 0.2 11 0.3 10 — — 
			 2002/03-2004/05 0.3 10 0.2 11 0.3 9 0.1 12 
			 2003/04-2005/06 0.3 9 0.2 11 0.3 9 0.1 12 
			 2004/05-2006/07 0.3 9 0.2 12 0.3 9 0.1 12 
			 2005/06-2007/08 0.4 10 0.2 12 0.3 9 0.1 11 
			 2006/07-2008/09 0.4 10 0.2 12 0.3 9 0.1 11 
			 2007/08-2009/10 0.4 10 0.2 12 0.3 9 0.1 12 
			 2008/09-2010/11 0.4 10 0.2 12 0.3 9 0.2 13 
			 2009/10-2011/12 0.3 9 0.2 12 0.3 8 0.2 14 
			 Notes: 1. The Figures above are from households below average income (HBAI), which is sourced from the Family Resources survey. The latest publication of HBAI can be found using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/206778/full_hbai13.pdf 2. Someone is considered to be in relative low income if they live in a household whose income is below 60% of median income for all households. Median income is the income of the household in the middle of the income distribution. Household income is equivalised, which means that income is adjusted for the size and composition of the household; and household income is also deflated, which means that income is adjusted for changes in inflation. 3. In household below average income, a household is defined as a single person or group of people living at the same address as their only or main residence, who either share one meal together or share the living accommodation. This differs from a benefit unit (family), which is defined as a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple, plus any dependent children. From January 2006 same-sex partners (civil partners and cohabitees) are also included in the same benefit unit. A household will consist of one or more benefit units. 4. Figures have been presented on a before housing cost basis, which means that housing costs have not been deducted from income. Housing costs include; rent (gross of housing benefit); water rates, community water charges and council water charges; mortgage interest payments; structural insurance premiums (for owner occupiers); ground rent and service charges. 5. Figures for government regions are presented as three year averages. This is to ensure that the sample size is sufficient to produce robust estimates. 6. Figures for Northern Ireland are only available from 2002/03. As such figures for Northern Ireland can only be presented from 2002/03-2004/05 onwards. 7. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 1% and to the nearest 100,000 people. Estimates based on survey data are subject to uncertainty; and are subject to sampling error. Figures may not sum due to rounding error. 
		
	
	The tables above give the number of individuals living in households where at least one person is in work, and that are in relative low income; and the percentage of individuals living in households where at least one person is in work that are in relative low income; before housing costs (BHC), by region, between 1994/95 and 2011/12, three year averages.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions recipients of (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance failed to keep a signing-on appointment in 2012-13.

Esther McVey: DWP does not collate data concerning the number of occasions recipients of jobseeker's allowance failed to attend a signing-on appointment.
	Recipients of employment and support allowance are not required to attend signing-on appointments.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what amount his Department has spent on appealing cases in the present Parliament.

Michael Penning: The Department for Work and Pensions does not retain financial data by Parliament or parliamentary Session.
	The Department for Work and Pensions' litigation function transferred to the Treasury Solicitor's Department on 18 March 2013. In the period from 18 March 2013 to date the Department for Work and Pensions has incurred £245,713 in external fees and disbursements relating to appeals which the Department has brought or is defending. This sum is inclusive of VAT where applicable.
	The Department's records of legal spend prior to 18 March 2013 do not distinguish between the stage of legal proceedings in respect of which each invoice for legal representation is paid. Disaggregating the data would take the cost of responding to the question over the disproportionate cost threshold.
	The Department does not hold comprehensive data for the cost of internal staff time spent dealing with appeals.

Work Capability Assessment

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) medical training and (b) diagnostic experience his Department requires of Atos Medical Ltd employees contracted to carry out work capability assessments.

Michael Penning: The contract between DWP and Atos requires that all Atos health care professionals are trained and registered with the relevant professional body—the General Medical Council for doctors, the Nursing and Midwifery Council for nurses and the Health and Care Professions Council for physiotherapists. They must have a minimum of three years post full registration experience in roles that have a clear relevance to disability assessment medicine.
	The contract specifies that all Atos health care professionals undertake a new entrant training course in disability analysis. The content and duration of the course is agreed with the Department.
	The Department also requires that Atos health care professionals undertake a programme of continuing professional development. The content of the programme is agreed with the Department on an annual basis.
	However, it is not the job of the assessor to provide a medical diagnosis, determining what medical condition an individual has for treatment and prognostic purposes. Instead the Work Capability Assessment is a functional assessment which assesses the impact of a claimant's condition(s) and how this affects them on a day to day basis.